Acuity Volume 1 Number 1-15-75

Acuity (Online) ISSN 2045-5402
Enhancing and Advancing

Neuro Linguistic
Programming
A New Anthology of Shared Findings and Learnings

Published by the ANLP
November 2010
Vol. 1 / NO. 1
ACUITY
Edited by Joe Cheal
41a Bedford Road, Moggerhanger, Beds, MK44 3RQ, UK.
Tel (+44) 1767 640956
Email joe.cheal@gwiztraining.com
The Association of NLP

Apsley Mills Cottage, Stationers Place, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9RH, UK.
(+44) 20 3051 6740
www.anlp.org
Review Panel
Steve Andreas
Robert Dilts
L. Michael Hall
James Lawley
Robert Smith
Lisa Wake
Submissions are welcome. Please email the Editor for Contributor Guidelines.
The views expressed in Acuity are those of the contributor and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the ANLP or the Editor.
Articles remain the copyright of the contributor.

All other contents are (c) ANLP 2010.
ACUITY Vol.1, No.1
Journal Contents
Article Author Page
NLP Patterns and Principles Richard Gray 6
If only God would give us a Penny Tompkins & James Lawley 17

sign: The Role of Meta-
Comments
The Role of Moods in NLP Joe Cheal 28
The Four Pillars and Coaching Angus McLeod 37
7+2 Keys To Becoming A World- L . Michael Hall 49

Class Coach
The How Behind The Secret Richard Bolstad 61

Editing Notes: When Giants Sang
Once upon a time, not only did the Giants of NLP walk the earth, but they also sang to
each other across and around the world. They expanded their fields through sharing
articles in journals like NLP World and Anchor Point. They thrived on exploring and
applying NLP models and developing new concepts and ideas.
But then one day the publications stopped.
Whilst the NLP Giant population grew, many of the Giants formed their own personal
sites and people were welcome to visit if they could find them. Every so often, some of the
Giants would walk the earth and meet to share their ideas and developments with the
people. Although the Giants shared their ideas, their songs were rarely heard.
Having enjoyed the Giants songs, one person missed the joy of the journals and the
sharing of giant ideas. And one morning he woke up with a positive intention and a well-
formed outcome, determined to hear the Giants sing again. A new journal with new
articles perhaps a new legacy for NLP. And so, in partnership with the ANLP, Acuity
was conceived.
Acuity is designed to sit between Rapport magazine and the Current Research in NLP
journal. The aim of Acuity is to provide an opportunity for authors and innovators to
advance the field of NLP in sharing their findings, learnings and developments: new
models, techniques, applications, refinements and new perspectives to old themes.
I wish to thank the panel: Steve Andreas, Robert Dilts, L. Michael Hall, James Lawley,
Robert Smith and Lisa Wake for their time and their support. And I wish to thank the
contributors without whom the journal would have been an empty experience.
Like some of you, I am an outcome- oriented creature and for years I wanted a journal.
Now, with the help of some fantastic people, here you are.
Enjoy, be brilliant and shine on.
Joe Cheal
Editor of Acuity.
Words from the ANLP
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts a phrase often used in NLP and indeed,
Richard Gray even refers to this in his article.
This is certainly the case for Acuity, which makes this a great anthology, because every
article is already great as a standalone piece. So to have them combined into a collection
of insights into NLP and Coaching is truly remarkable and a testament to all who have
contributed.
The other thing regularly alluded to is the need for greater collaboration in the field of
NLP. Robert Dilts talks about Generative Collaboration and Acuity is definitely an
example of that. Acuity was conceived, nurtured and delivered with a true spirit of
collaboration, and we had no idea when we started exactly where we would end up,
because the small ideas developed into bigger plans, nurtured by a shared enthusiasm and
passion for NLP.
I would especially like to thank Joe for his commitment, drive and enthusiasm in creating,
co-ordinating and editing Acuity. Thank you to our full review panel, who have embraced
this concept with conviction and a commitment that enabled us to take Acuity and
transform it into a reality. And as Joe says, thank you to the contributors because of
course, without the enormous part they play, there would be no Acuity.
Please do continue to generate informative and innovative articles, so that we can continue
to develop a strong body of works for the field of NLP to enjoy.
Karen Moxom
Managing Director
ANLP
6 NLP Patterns and Principles
NLP Patterns and Principles
Richard M. Gray, Ph.D
There are certain recurring patterns that NLP pays special attention to. These include
sensory experience and the 4-tuple, outcomes, rapport and ecology. Some of the others
are structural principles that that arise from the linguistic roots of NLP. Here we would
like to begin with two ideas, recursion and the TOTE model.
Recursion refers to the property of

self reference. It is ubiquitous in
nature. It appears in the Fibonacci
series that orders the growth of
plants and spiral shells. This is a
recursive number series that grows
by adding each number in the
series to the sum of itself and the
previous number. It is recursive
because each number is generated
by reaching back to the last two
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 this is the beginning of the
numbers in the series to create the Fibonacci sequence, an infinite string of numbers
next. named after, but not invented by, the 13th century
Italian mathematician Fibonacci. It may seem like a
piece of mathematical arcana, but the Fibonacci
For example: 0+0=0, 0+1=1, 1+1=2, sequence is found to appear, time and time again,
1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8, 5+ 8=13, among the structures of the natural world and even in
the products of human culture. From the Parthenon to
8+13=21 . pine cones, from the petals on a sunflower to the
paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, the Fibonacci sequence
This yields the series, 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, seems to be written into the world around us.
http://fraserchapman.blogspot.com/2007/11/in-our-time-
8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, fibonacci-sequence.html
610, and so on. When plotted as
spiral it creates the logarithmic
spiral found in the nautilus and the snail as well as the whorled pattern of seeds in the
sunflower.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 7
Recursion is responsible for the chaotic flow of fluid as dynamic flow patterns feedback on
one another. Recursion is also the secret of linguistic diversity. Fractal patterns depend
upon this same principle of recursion.
In linguistics, Chomsky showed that the reason we can create a theoretically infinite
linguistic capacity from a relatively limited number of sounds is because the system feeds
back on itself, it is recursive. Each pattern of syntactic relationships becomes the source of
a hierarchy of interrelated patterns that enclose many more details. This feeds directly into
the Cognitive linguistic roots of NLP, there are patterns that feed back on themselves.
Piaget spoke about humans as structured and ordered systems in which one level of
information builds recursively on another. Structure is the expression of a continuously
evolving system in which structure blends seamlessly with system construction. It is
recursive. Form and content are seen by Piaget as different levels of analysis within the
same structure. He notes: "... there is no "form as such" or "content as such," ... each
element ... is always simultaneously form to the content it subsumes and content for some
higher form." (Piaget, 1970, p. 35)
One of the important contributions to the basic NLP model was an insight from L. Michael
Hall in his 1996 book, Meta States. Here he made the important observation that self-
reflection, recursion, is a crucial part of what it means to be human. He noted that part of
the richness of what it means to be human is rooted in: 1. our self-reflexive consciousness;
our awareness of our awareness and 2. our feelings about our feelings, what he called
meta-states. In this ground-breaking work he points to how we can learn to apply feelings
to feelings in order to take control of present states.
Hall makes the following statement about the effects of the recursive practice of
metastating:
Sometimes a state about a state will negate the first; sometimes it will create
a paradox and send a person into a state of confusion; sometimes it will amplify
the first state; sometimes it will distort the first state and turn it into something
wondrously useful or destructive (fear about fearparanoia, belief in belief
fanaticism). (1996, p. 44-emphasis in original)
In computer programming (this is Neuro-linguistic PROGRAMMING), one of the most

common elements is a loop. The recursive loop cycles though a certain sequence of actions
over and over until a certain criterion is reached. When the criterion is reached, the loop
ends.
On the most basic level, we see this same pattern in the TOTE model. TOTE is an acronym,
it refers to Test, Operate, Test, Exit and is derived from a seminal publication in cognitive
linguistics by Miller, Galanter and Pribram (1960), Plans and the Structure of Behaviour.
This book, often called the first book to apply a computer metaphor to human behaviour,
set forth the idea that behaviours in complex systems that have no defined end (like do
this five times and stop) need to have some guiding process that allows them to know
what to do and when to stop doing it. This means that behaviours in living organisms can
be usefully compared to a computer program that sets a criterion, operates on the data,
and tests to see whether the criterion has been met. If the criterion has not been met, the
program loops through again. If the criterion has been met, the program ends.
In the language of NLP we begin with an outcome. The first test in the Test-Operate-Test-
Exit strategy is the comparison of our present state to a desired statean outcome. If they
fail to match, we perform some operation in hope of changing percepts, behaviours or the
world in the direction of our stated outcome. The second test in the algorithm again
compares the present state to the outcome. If the outcome criteria have been met, the
process ends; we exit the process. If, however, the outcome has not been met, we loop
back through the test-operate procedure until it does (Dilts, 1983; Dilts & Delozier, 2000;
Dilts, Grinder, Bandler & Delozier, 1980; Wake, 2010).
In line with what we have already discussed the model begins with an outcome. This
suggests that we are aware of our current
state or the state of our client and have
decided that there is something better or
more important than the current
condition. This emphasizes the creation of
an outcome and sensory awareness.
The operations in this model specify how

we can get there from here. You may
remember that well-formed outcomes end
with a specification of the steps that allow
us to get there. In even the simplest
model, some behaviour must be specified.
The second test represents calibration. How do we know that the criteria have been met?
We look, we listen, we feel, taste and smell. In general, we use sensory based information
to compare our outcome against the present time reality. If they match, the process ends.
If they do not match, we continue to work.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 9
As the model returns to operations, we find that the organism has the opportunity to
modify its behaviour. This allows us to work more effectively. It also allows us to learn
from our errorsthere is no such thing as failure, only feedback.
The model was originally created as an extension of the behavioural model of the reflex
arc. One of its innovative extensions was the addition of room for flexibility. If what we
are doing doesnt work, or hasnt worked the way we want, we can do something else.
As it appears in NLP, the model usually specifies that testing happens in the sensory
modality most relevant to the issue. A carpenter hammering nails might use sight or
feela hammer hitting a nail off-centre feels very different from one that has hit the nail
correctly. If the task is driving down a narrow street, vision, hearing and feeling might all
be used. Vision predominates as the feedback mechanism as one determines that the
spaces between your car and those parked on the sides is sufficient. Sound and feelings
provide the test criteria if the visual test fails and you crash into the parked cars (Dilts et
al., 1980; Dilts & Delozier, 2000).
Lets think about tuning a guitar. The guitar player has a reference note, either memorized
or from an external device, like a pitch pipe. In the initial Test he compares the tone of the
string; lets say that its the D string, against the reference note. The test either passes or it
fails. The tone of the string either matches the reference note or not. If it matches, he exits
and moves on to the next string. If it does not match, he does something to the guitar; he
turns the peg to change its tone. He then tests again, he plucks the guitar string and,
listening, he compares the sound of the guitar to the reference pitch. If it matches the
reference tone, he goes on to the next string. If it doesnt match, he repeats the cycle.
Because vertebrates are wily creatures, the guitarist may change his technique and
continuously pluck the string as he turns the peg up and down. Here he has merged the
operation and the test into a continuous behaviour. It is still part of the same pattern, test,
operate, test, exit but it happens as a smooth sequence. The newbie, turns the peg a few
notches at a time and tests the tone at each change. As the process develops, the test is
refined to reflect the guitarists growing experience of the relationship between the tone of
the string and the cranks of the peg. Feedback (recursion) changes the structure of the
operation.
This model can be used to describe simple behaviours, like hitting a nail with a hammer
and it can be used to build complex hierarchical models of much more complex
behaviours. If we imagine that a basic TOTE can be used to assemble a set of rudimentary
skills that are necessary to a larger task, we can imagine that larger and larger tasks can
become unified wholes using the same model. Lets go back to the guitar player.
The guitar player is just learning to play. His first task is simply learning how to hold
down a string so that it gives a pleasing tone rather than a thunk or a buzz. He knows how
the note should sound; this is his criterion for the first test. He presses down the string
with the tip of one finger and plucks the string--his first operation. Listening to the result
(test), he can determine whether it is a pleasing note or not. If it is a note, he can try a few
more. If it is a thunk or a buzz, he can try making the note again until it sounds better.
Having learned how to hold down the stings so that he can make the guitar sound
properly, he may move on to making a chord. He now has two sets of criteria. The first is
the visual pattern he has found in the sheet music or the chord book that he is using. The
second is whether or not he can make the chord sound good. He operates on the guitar by
pressing his fingers over the strings according to the pattern in the book. He may test this
first by arranging his fingers on the guitar string and comparing them with the book. If
this test matches, he will strum the guitar (Operate) and test again by listening for a nice
chord or the deadly thunks and buzzes that tell him to try again. When he has successfully
played one chord, he can then go on to learn several others.
When those chords begin to play with a minimum of thunks and buzzes, he can then try
stringing those chords together to play a song. In this case, his criteria will expand to
include the sheet music for the tune, his internal representation of how the song should
sound, and a sense of whether the rhythm and speed of his playing are appropriate. Each
of these builds upon the other until he has developed the complete and essentially unified
behaviour of playing the song.
Now, it may seem that all of this is about something that is obvious to almost everyone.
That is true; however, as we learn to specify how people do things, one step at a time, we
learn several things. First we learn to observe their behaviour; a habit that cannot be over
emphasized. Second we learn how that behaviour is structured; the small pieces that they
had to master in order to gain the skills. Third, by learning how they did it, we can find
out how to do, or not do, the behaviour that they display. This is the essence of modeling
(Dilts, 1998; Gordon & Dawes, 2005).
One of the keys to learning how to change behaviour is learning how people are able to do
what they do when they do it. This is not necessarily why they do it but how. It is a very
useful pattern. Richard Bandler has recommended the cultivation of a spirit of curiosity
about behaviour, rather than a judgment. Wow, how do you do that? is much more
useful than, Whats wrong with you (Bandler, 1998, 2008)?
When I worked for the federal government doing drug treatment, I became curious about
how people changed their minds about doing drugs. How did they develop the skill of
Acuity Vol.1 No1 11
making different choices about whether or not to use drugs? One of the things that I found
was that when people had more important or more rewarding things to doas they
understood themthey would often put off using or stop completely.
It appeared that when people had an outcome that was more important than getting high,
they would use that as a criterion for how they wanted to feel. They would compare this
to the drugged state and their operation was to continue doing the alternate behaviour. As
long as the alternate provided a better experience than using drugs (test), they would
continue to do that other thing (operational loop). When that other behaviour ceased to be
sufficiently rewarding (test) they would exit sobriety and return to substance use (exit).
For one client, the alternate behaviour was motherhood. She was using $300 a day in
speedballs (heroin and cocaine). When she discovered that she was pregnant she found
that she would feel better if she gave her child a healthy body and life style. Within three
days of discovering her pregnancy, she stopped completely. For the next year she found
herself quite content (test) to fulfil the role of mother (operate). After a year, motherhood
became less rewarding (test) and she exited sobriety (exit).
One client, a mafia lawyer, had an intractable cocaine habit. Nothing worked. I asked him
what he needed in order for cocaine to no longer be a problem for him. He eventually
replied that if he went back to church, he would no longer need to use. When he finally
began attending church he stopped using cocaine in short order. His original criterion
seemed to be that his life could continue as it was, as long as he was not committed to the
church: no church (test) continue to use cocaine (operate). But when he returned to church
(test), he had to stop using cocaine (exit).
As we consider the structure of plans and behaviours, we come to the conclusion that NLP
is implicitly systems theoretical, that is, it is built on the principle that larger elements of
behaviour are built of smaller chunks as an organized whole. However, that assembly is
not just additive, it is emergent.
The emergent property of a complex system is a whole whose properties could not be
predicted from the parts. In NLP we regularly note that the whole is more than the sum of
its parts. This is important because even though we talk about the fine grained structure of
behaviour, as the parts come together we find something much more than we would have
expected. In NLP this is often called streamlining.
There are several formulations of systems theory (Bertalanffy, 1968; Fidler, 1982; Gray,
1996; Piaget, 1970). All of them reflect some of the same basic ideas. The most common of
these are: emergence, centration, transformation and self regulation.
Emergence is the concept that complex systems are composed of subsystems that retain
their own character and function as they subserve the whole. Our guitar player learned
how to press the strings, make the chords and play the song. As the behaviour
streamlined, all of these parts coalesced into a coherent whole. None of them lost their
character, function or value, but all were merged into the larger skill of musical expertise.
In systems, any part can become the centre of function for the whole as long as the
function of that part is crucial to the system. This is the principle of centration. Steve
Andreas (2004) calls this heterarchy and gives the example of the Israeli Defense Force
(IDF). In the American armed forces, rank is absolute, it has nothing to do with expertise;
it is hierarchical. In the IDF, the soldier with the essential level of expertise takes command
for the situation where her skill is paramount. When that crisis ends, normal order is
restored.
Our guitar player can invoke any of the systemic skills as the centre of his attention,
whenever he needs to. As he learns a new chord or a new riff, making individual notes
one at a time may become the centre. In another context, whole chords may dominate
while in others, entire songs will be the centre of his attention.
In organisms, perceptions and actions are controlled by needs and desires. At any
moment, one sensory system, dominated by one need, may determine what the action
criteria are in that context. The most salient outcome determines the choice of behaviour.
Sometimes we refer to these centres as parts because we can characterize them as having a
mind of their own.
Systems are dynamic, they transform and change but all of those changes are determined
by the capacities of the individual. This is the principle of transformation. Living systems
change and people change over time. The only people who do not change are dead people.
In NLP we understand that, apart from actual physical and developmental deficits, a
human being can become anything that they imagine.
Our guitar player can use his skills in various contexts and with various constraints. He
can change the style of his playing from blues to samba to folk. He can even play his
guitar behind his head. Having learned the guitar, he may transfer those skills to the bass
guitar whose four strings share the same tuning as his guitar. He might even transfer his
skills to the colour coded strings of a harp; once he knows the colour code, he can find the
same chords and notes on that instrument as he does on the guitar.
Complex systems also have the property of self regulation. This means that people remain
people, horses remain horses and you remain who you are. Even when we make radical
changes in beliefs and behaviours, the characteristics that define you continue to operate.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 13
We see this in NLP as the unconscious tends to correct ecologically unsound behaviours
that have no strong compulsive elements. When a behaviour has not been practiced so as
to become automatic and it is not associated with significant external reinforcement, it will
often fade away leaving the original structure of personality and behaviour intact.
Behaviours that resonate with the deep structure of the individual are easily assimilated
and can quickly become part of the individuals standard behavioural repertoire. For this
reason, once more, ecology is a major consideration in any kind of change work. In
general, we continue to be who we are.
Review
Patterns in living systems are often recursive, by feeding back onto their own
structure, they generate new levels of meaning as hierarchies.
Meta-stating is the NLP process of applying one feeling to another feeling or
process and paying attention to the resulthow you feel about the feeling or
behaviour.
The TOTE model was the first computer metaphor applied to human
behaviour. It represents a strategy for controlling behaviour by monitoring
actions upon the environment (internal or external) to determine whether the
operations (actions) were successful.
TOTE is an acronym that stands for Test, Operate, Test, Exit. It represents a
looping structure that sets a criterion for change (Test) that is distinct from
present conditions (present state vs desired state). It then performs some
action or operation upon the environment to move the present condition
towards the desired state (Operate). It then compares the newly changed
condition to the criterion (Test). If the criterion has been met, that is if the
present state now matches the desired state, the behavioural loop ends (Exit).
If the criterion has not been met, the process continues with further
operations and tests until it does.
The TOTE model lies at the heart of much of what is done in NLP. It is the
explicit core of modeling.
TOTEs are often built up into systems in order to create more complex
behaviours. These more complex behaviours coalesce into streamlined
behaviours and represent more than the sum of their parts.
NLP is implicitly systems theoretical. That is, it applies the principles of
General Systems theory as originally formulated by Bertalanffy in the 1960s.
The systems principals are: 1. emergence--the whole is more than the sum of
its parts; 2. centrationany subsystem can become the controlling centre of
the system depending on the present-time needs of the system; 3.
Transformationcomplex systems are dynamic and they change over time

and in accordance with circumstances; 4. Self regulationsystems retain
their identity independent of the changes they go through.
In NLP, these principles appear as follows: 1. Emergencein all change
there is a difference that makes a difference, one transformation that can
reconfigure the entire system; 2. Centrationmost behaviours are
constrained by ecology, in any context any resource may become the centre
of the system (e.g. shifting perceptual preferences); 3. Transformationmore
choices are generally better than fewer choices, the organism with the most
options controls the conversation; 4. Self regulationchange can only go so
far, you will always remain who you are; this is an expression of deep
ecology.
Exercises
Consider the emotion of anger. Think of a time when you were angry. Now, meta-state
the anger by applying happiness to the anger. Be happy that you were angry. Notice how
that changes your anger. Apply the following emotions to anger: joy, peace, sadness,
anger, surprise, curiosity. Note how your response changes with each example.
Consider each of the following emotions joy, peace, sadness, anger, surprise, curiosity. Go
through them one at a time and apply the list above (joy, peace, sadness, anger, surprise,
curiosity) to each one. Note how each change impacts you.
Think of a skill that you have acquired. Think back to how you learned that skill. What
were the constituent parts that you had to learn before you could perform that behaviour
adequately? How did you use the TOTE strategy to build each of them? Specify the
criteria you used and the tests (what you were paying attention to) that you used to learn
each behaviour as well as those you used to assemble the larger behaviour. Were there
times when the behaviours became automatic? When were they?
Interview someone about a skill that they have. Ask them to name the composite skills
that were necessary to create the larger capacity. Ask them to describe the sequence of
observations and behaviours (the TOTEs) that they used to learn the smaller and the larger
skills. Test to see if you can get enough information so that you could do the same thing.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 15
Biography
Richard M Gray, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Fairleigh Dickinson

University, Teaneck, NJ. Before his move to academia, Dr. Gray served for more than 20
years in the US Probation Department, Brooklyn, NY. He is the creator of the Brooklyn
Program, an NLP-based substance abuse program which operated for seven years in the
Federal Probation System. In recognition of that work, he was co-recipient of the 2004
Neuro-linguistic Programming World Community Award. Dr. Gray is the author of
Archetypal Explorations (Routledge, 1996), Transforming Futures: The Brooklyn Program
Facilitators Manual (Lulu, 2003) and About Addictions: Notes from Psychology,
Neuroscience and NLP (Lulu, 2008). He is a regular presenter at national and international
addictions conferences and a recognized expert in Neuro-Linguistic Programming. He
received his BA in Psychology from Central College, Pella, IA; MA in Sociology from
Fordham University, Bronx, NY; and Ph.D. in Psychology from the Union Institute,
Cincinnati, OH. He also earned a certificate in Forensic Psychology at New York
University in 2002. Dr. Gray is a Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic
Programming and a Certified Ericksonian Hypnotist. Richard is a member of the
American Psychological Association, the Federal Probation Officers Association, the
Canadian Association of NLP, the Institute for the Advanced Study of Health and the NLP
Research and Recognition Project.
References
Andreas. S. (2004). Heterarchy and Ecology: Maintaining and Restoring Balance in Living
Systems. Workshop presented at The institute for the Advanced Study of Health
(IASH), World Health Conference: The Many Paths to Healing, San Francisco, CA.
Bandler, R. (1999). Introduction to DHE. Chicago (Audio).
Bandler, R. (2008). Richard Bandlers guide to trance-formations. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health.
Bertalanffy, L. von. (1968). General System Theory. NY: George Braziller.
Dilts, R. (1998). Modeling with NLP. Cupertino CA: Meta Publications .
Dilts, R., Grinder, J., Bandler, R. & DeLozier, J. (1980). Neuro_Linguistic Programming:
Volume I. The structure of subjective experience. Cupertino, CA: Meta
Publications.
Dilts, R. and Delozier, J. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Systemic Neuro-Linguistic Programming
and NLP New Coding. Scotts Valley, CA: NLP University Press. Retrieved at
www.nlpu.com
Dilts, R. (1983). Roots of NLP. Cupertino, CA: Meta Publications.
Fidler, J. (1982).The holistic paradigm and general systems theory. In W. Gray, J. Fidler, &
J. Battista (Eds.), General systems theory and the psychological sciences. Seaside,
California: General Systems Press.
Gordon, D. & Dawes, G. (2005). Expanding your world: Modeling the structure of experience.
Tucson, AZ: David Gordon.
Gray, R. (1996). Archetypal explorations. London: Routledge.
Hall, L. M. (1996). Meta-States: A domain of logical levels. Grand Junction, CO:
Empowerment Technologies.
Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (1960). Plans and the structure of behaviour,
London: Holt.
Piaget, J. (1970). Genetic epistemology (Eleanor Duckworth, Trans.). New York: Columbia
University Press
Acuity Vol.1 No1 17
If only God would give us a sign
The Role of Meta-Comments

Penny Tompkins and James Lawley
Cartoon reproduced with kind permission of Allan Hirsh,
author of Relax for the Fun of it: A Cartoon & Audio Guide to Releasing Stress www.allanhirsh.com
David Grove, the originator of Clean Language, was an astute observer of his therapy
clients. He was the first to alert us to the importance of clients' comments which do not
follow on from the previous statement and which appear incongruous. Grove called these
comments non sequiturs. We extracted the non sequiturs from a number of verbatim client
transcripts. We noticed that most of these remarks were a more or less thinly disguised
comment about what was happening for the client in the previous moment hence we
called them meta-comments.
18 The Role of Meta-Comments
We define a 'meta-comment as a verbal or nonverbal expression which refers to what has

just been experienced. These self-reflections range from the fully conscious and explicit to
the completely unconscious and implicit.
Apparently Michael Palin used the term 'meta comment' when he was part of Monty
Python's Flying Circus. The Pythons used them to comic effect when an actor would refer
to the situation their character was in. For example in Monty Python and the Holy Grail,
following Sir Galahad's discovery of the Castle Anthrax, Dingo is telling the sad tale of her
life:
"Oh, wicked, bad, naughty, evil Zoot! She is a bad person and must pay the penalty...
... she turns to the camera:
"Do you think this scene should have been cut? We were so worried when the boys were
writing it, but now, we're glad. It's better than some of the previous scenes, I think..."
This is analogous to when clients meta-comment. They interrupt what they are doing to
pass a judgment, reflect on their knowledge, give notification of a change, or in some other
way reveal something about the current state of their inner world. To understand meta-
comments you need to extract them from the flow of normal speech and recognise that the
client is commenting on their in-the-moment experience. Because they are embedded in
the client's narratives, meta-comments are somewhat hidden and easily ignored. But to
ignore them is to miss out on some of the most important signposts for how best to
proceed with facilitating this particular client at this particular moment.
The following example is from a client who was struggling to come to terms with her
new role as a mother.
It's got a new quality about it. It's a very new thing. It's ... What I'm finding out with the
mother role which I love, and it is true I have somehow taken to it naturally, I'm aware that
what's creeping in is this sort of more negative side where I will more easily lose myself,
the bit that I do know is me which comes through when I feel free, which is quite
interesting. And before it goes too far where ... I don't want to become in some ways like
my mother did, which was really putting her life on hold. And giving in to exhaustion.
And I can, I know I have that in me to do. And eventually I think, you know, that's what
killed her, you know with the cancer, the stuff just ate her up. So ... I am strong. I am quite a
strong person and I ... that works against me sometimes, because I will do things to
exhaustion. And then I collapse. There's a negative aspect which comes through as
resentment. Because I can be so resentful as well because I can take on things but I'm not,
I'm no saint. You know, I will go, 'oh, what about me?'.
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Did you notice any meta-comments? What alerted you to them? What did they point
to? And what would you ask as a result?
Penny noted which is quite interesting was a meta-comment on the bit that I do
know is me which comes through when I feel free. The meta-comment indicated that
the clients attention was attracted enough by what she had just said and thought for
her to interrupt her narrative and pass comment. As a result of this signposting Penny
used Clean Language to ask:
And what about me? And theres a bit that you know is me that comes through when you
feel free. And when you feel free and you know that bit is me, where is that bit?
In case you are interested, the client replied:
On my shoulder, sort of here [right hand gestures to right shoulder]. Like a conscience, but
not a conscience. Yes, it's a knowing, yeah it's a knowing. That's interesting. It's funny
identifying a place because now I can remember when I have ... m-m-m, now that's
interesting. I've, I've, I've heard this before but not known the locality of it.
Below are some more examples of clients meta-comments:
This is important.
Thats a new option.
There must be a place that knows.
I realise I need to decide which way to go.
God knows.
No, that's not what I meant. [self-correcting]
Do I want to go there?
Thats a hard question.
Oh look, theres no green in the rainbow.
Does that make sense?
Phew, Ive gone all hot.
I know I shouldn't say this but ...
... so anyway ...
It's obvious that ....
It just occurred to me ...
I can't believe I just said that.
Now let me see ...
[A tap of a watch]
[A hand over the mouth]
The key to understanding the role played by meta-comments is to model what the client
has had to do with their attention or perception to have made this particular comment.
Meta-comments indicate a momentary shift in perspective (and possibly perceiver)

from a more descriptive narrative to a statement with a degree of self-reflection.
Because we are remarkably consistent beings and we cannot not be ourselves, the
structure of what we do in the micro (seconds) is often isomorphic with what happens
in the macro (days, months, years). In this way meta-comments in the session can be
seen as fractals vignettes that when scaled up retain a similar organisation to how we
experience our 'real life'.
From a facilitator's viewpoint, meta comments can be considered as orientation pointers

and as messages from the 'wisdom in the system'. In broad terms they can be taken as a
directive to:
- Continue attending to the current perception (to stay put)

- Attend to something else
- Not attend to something
- Change your way of facilitating (e.g. slow down, speed up, etc.)
Since meta-comments are about the clients relationship with their interior landscape they
often reveal something about the degree of significance or insignificance the client attaches
to a part of their experience.
Why 'Meta'?
The notion of 'meta' and 'levels of communication' was extensively discussed and
utilised by the groups that formed around Gregory Bateson at Stanford University in
the 1950s and at the Mental Research Institute at Palo Alto, California in the 1960s.
Strangely, although Bateson regularly mentions meta-communication, metalogues and
metalinguistic messages in Steps to an Ecology of Mind, we could not find the term 'meta-
comment' in the book.
Robert Dilts and Judith DeLozier have attempted to clarify the plethora of meta-this and
meta-that in their Encyclopedia of Systemic NLP [pp. 718-720]:
The term meta is a Greek word meaning over, between or above. In English it is also
used to mean about. A meta model, for example, is a model about other models.
Metacognition is the awareness of ones own cognitive processes, i.e. cognition about
cognition.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 21
Meta messages are messages about other messages, which provide frames or context
markers that influence the meaning of those messages. Meta messages are typically
nonverbal and give emphasis or provide cues for how to interpret a verbal message.
Meta communication is communication about communication. For instance, a meta

communication is often a verbal statement that sets a framework around a communication
situation in the form of rules, guidelines and expectations. A study of the communication
patterns of effective leaders revealed that almost half of the leaders communication was
actually meta communication.
It is important to distinguish meta communication from meta messages. Meta

communication is a more macro level process from sending a meta message. A meta
message operates as a kind of subtext that emphasizes certain aspects of a message. If a
person says, YOU werent respecting the rules it marks the communication as directed to
the who. Saying You werent respecting the RULES shifts the emphasis of the message
to the what. Meta communication, on the other hand, would be saying something like,
Lets talk about what the rules are, and why we have them.
Meta-comments are another member of the above family of Meta's. They can involve
metacognition, and they can be a meta message or a meta communication. Typically they
are short and interspersed within ordinary speech. If they go on for too long they cease to
be 'meta' and become a comment in their own right. Their primary function seems to be a
communication to self and secondarily a communication to someone else. It is like the
person is externalising their internal dialogue without realising it.
Meta-States
Meta-comments signal a momentary shift to a meta-perspective. L. Michael Hall's model of

Meta-States covers a similar but wider territory than is relevant to this article:
In a Meta-State, conscious awareness reflects back onto itself (i.e. self-reflective consciousness).
Thinking-about-thinking then generates thoughts/feelings at higher logical levels so that
we experience states-about-states. Rather than referring to something "out there" in the
world, Meta-States refer to something about some previous thought, emotion, concept,
understanding, Kantian category, etc. In this way we layer thought upon thought. [2000,
p.4]
Examples of meta-states are: Worry about worrying; reasoning about our reasoning; anger
at self for being too emotional; etc. While working with meta-states opens up all sorts of
possibilities, we have found great value in simply regarding a meta-comment as a pointer
to what is happening for a client and a guide for how to work with their process.
Congruence/Incongruence
Because all forms of meta -communication, -messages, -states and -comments operate at a
different level to that which they are referring to, they can be perceived by the facilitator as
either congruent or incongruent. While incongruence can be considered as evidence that
the client is operating with incompatible behaviours, desires, values or beliefs, from a
systemic perspective if you go to a high enough level you'll find that a functioning system
is always internally congruent. If you cannot see the congruence in what they are saying and
doing that's a signal that there is more for you to model.
Categories of Meta-Comments
In everyday conversation meta-comments rarely become the topic of conversation and

an inexperienced listener will barely be aware they have been said. It's like the viewers
of a videoed basketball match who are so intent on counting the number of passes they
don't notice a man in a gorilla suit run onto the court. However, once you start to look
for these particular gorillas you'll see them everywhere.
To model the way clients use meta-comments we took the first 20 minutes of eight
verbatim transcripts each with a different therapy client and picked out all the meta-
comments. This resulted in over 120 different examples (excluding repetitions). On
average that's one meta-comment every 45 seconds. We categorised these examples into
the following broad headings:
WAYS OF KNOWING - The first thing that comes to mind is ....

- Im guessing it must be just a kind of ...
- Im imagining ...
COMPARISON - Scale - Its a big deal for me.

- Judgment/Preference - That's odd.
- Change/Persistence - Actually in some ways thats new.
TIMEFRAME - At the moment ...

- Im at the stage where...
- I feel thats the end of it.
LANGUAGING - Let me rephrase that.

- I cant verbalise it.
- The question is ...
CATEGORIES OF EXPERIENCE - Thats the pattern.

- Ive no new ideas.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 23
- My outcome is ...
CONDITIONAL/POTENTIAL CONTEXTS - I would like that to be true.

- If only I could get some new insight.
- I might do something about it.
TO FACILITATOR DIRECTLY - No, that doesnt actually feel right.

- Let me think about that.
- Bear in mind ...
NONVERBAL - [Laughter at]

- [Tears about]
- [A sigh]
For a full list of the meta-comments by category see:

www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/192/1/
Pattern-level comments
There is an additional category of meta-comment that rarely occurs in the first 20 minutes
of a client's first session but which warrants special attention. These are comments at a
pattern-level of organisation:
Thats like my whole life.

Im back to square one.
I cant stop running round in circles.
How long am I going to complain about this?
I realise it's never going to work.
Here I go again.
Its the same problem in a different guise.
Comments like these are especially important because they mark out that the client is
perceiving at a pattern level. With skilful choice of questions you can facilitate them to
stay at that level. By transcending and including the multitude of lower-level components
and examples they are working strategically. And when the pattern changes the effects
will filter down so they think, feel and behave differently across a range of contexts some
of which may never have been mentioned.
Common signals for meta-comments
Careful observation suggests that there are behaviours that often mark out a meta-
comment from other language:
The person's body often moves slightly backwards or upwards.

There is a change in their tonality.
There is a discontinuity in the flow of their sentences.
The comment has an 'about-ness' to it.
You may also notice a subtle internal sense that something different a kind of mismatch
has just happened. This will be you noticing that the client's meta-comment has changed
the frame for a second or two. With practice you can sensitise yourself to notice these cues
and increase your ability to choose whether or not to respond to the meta-comment. To
develop these skills we recommend you review a transcript, highlighting the meta-
comments only. One indicator of a meta-comment is to consider whether the client's
description makes sense without that comment. If you were to remove all of the meta-
comments from a transcript and hand it to someone else they wouldn't know anything
was missing. This, however, does not mean they are unimportant.
Working with meta-comments
Most of the time you can just note a client's meta-comment and use it to update your
model of their model of the world. This will help you attend to what the client is
attending to, and be a guide to where it would be useful for the client's attention to go
next.
Hearing a client meta-comment can alert you to consider: What just happened? How
did they do the shift? What happened just before the shift?. By reverse engineering'
what the client has likely had to do with their attention you can get an embodied sense
of how their thinking is organised in that moment.
Occasionally, however, you may decide to utilise the meta-comment more directly.
David Grove suggested that meta-comments have "a short half-life". They decay quickly
and soon disappear from the client's awareness unless they are attended to. So if you
are going to refer to them you need to do so immediately after they have happened.
Below is a simplified framework for doing this
1. Notice/recognise the meta-comment.
2. Model the comment in relation to the current organisation of the clients interior
landscape and context of the session.
3. Consider whether to:

Acuity Vol.1 No1 25
i. Utilise the comment directly

ii. Follow the direction suggested by the meta-comment
iii. Deliberately not follow the direction implied by the meta-comment.
4. If you decide to pursue one of the options in 3, we recommend you first check that your
intention to utilise the meta-comment relates to their desired outcome. Then you can
choose how you are going to do this. For example, using Clean Language, you could
respond to a client who says:
Client: I've just realised I need to decide which way to go.
Facilitator:
i: And what kind of realised is that realised?
ii: And then what happens?
iii: And where could the need to decide come from?
Ways Meta-Comments can be utilised
Once you have decided you are going to make use of a meta-comment you have lots of
choice about how to do that. Below we list some examples to give you a flavour of how we
use Clean Language to utilise verbal and nonverbal meta-comments.
Any meta-comment
- Repeat only the meta-comment and pause.
- Or ask: And is there anything else about that [clients meta-comment]?
"Theres something else I cant quite grasp."

- Do nothing, and wait to see what happens.
- Or ask: And then what happens?
"Im trying to do this in bits."

- And how many bits?
- And what kind of trying is that trying?
"Both elements are important."

- Make sure that both elements are explored.
- Or ask: And how do you know both elements are important?
"I know this pattern."

- And when you know this pattern then what happens?
- And given you know this pattern, what would you like to have happen?
"If I'm honest ..."

- And what happens just before you're honest?
- And where does being honest come from?
"[Laugh] Ive been here before."

- And what kind of [laugh] is that [laugh]?
- And what could that [laugh] know?
- And where could [laugh] come from?
"I kind of know that I want something, but [sits back] I don't know what I want."
- And what's the difference between [indicate them sitting forward] and [indicate
them sitting back]?
- And whereabouts is that know that you want something?
A meta-comment that suggests something new just happened.

- Interrupt and ask: And what just happened?
When there are a lot of meta-comments

- Repeat back a list of their meta-comments and ask: And is there anything else
about all that?
- And what happens just before you [list a few meta-comments]?
Attending to their own meta-comments is likely be an unusual experience for a client.

While it can encourage them to become even more adept at self-reflection and open up
areas that were out of their awareness, if overdone clients are liable to become self-
conscious. Therefore you need to be selective and to calibrate how useful the client's
responses to your questions are to them given their desired outcome.
Conclusion
People meta-comment more frequently than you might expect. In our small survey clients
averaged more than one per minute. While some people habitually comment on what is
going on, others rarely do but when they do it usually signals something significant has
just happened. Despite their frequency and significance meta-comments are all but
ignored by most facilitators. In so doing vital information about the current status of the
client's model of the world can be missed.
In this paper we have identified several ways to make use of meta-comments, the most
common being:
Utilising the logic of the meta-comment

Directing attention to the meta-comment itself
Moving time back or forward using the meta-comment as a marker
Acuity Vol.1 No1 27
Note, our way of utilising a client's meta-comments needs to be distinguished from the
technique used by some schools of therapy where the therapist meta-comments on a client's
behaviour, often their non-verbal behaviour.
On reflection, perhaps the most significant kinds of meta-comments are those that indicate
the client is operating at a pattern level or that something has just changed. When you
detect one of these cues we recommend that you put on hold anything else you were
thinking of doing and keep the client attending to the pattern or the change.
Finally, while you can utilise any particular meta-comment, we suggest their main value is
to keep you informed about what is happening for the client, and to point to how you can
support the next step in their unfolding process.
Biography
Penny Tompkins and James Lawley have both been UKCP registered neurolinguistic
psychotherapists since 1993. They are also supervisors, coaches in business, and certified
NLP trainers. They co-authored Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic
Modelling and a training DVD, A Strange and Strong Sensation. They are the founders of The
Developing Company and creators of Symbolic Modelling which uses the Clean Language
of David Grove. They can be contacted through their web site: www.cleanlanguage.co.uk
References
Gregory Bateson, Steps to An Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology,

Psychiatry, Evolution and Epistemology, Ballantine, 1972/2000
Robert Dilts and Judith DeLozier, Encyclopedia of Systemic NLP and NLP New
Coding, nlpuniversitypress.com 2000
David Grove, various articles at: cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/authors/7/Grove-
David
Michael Hall, Meta-States: A Domain of Logical Levels, International Society of
Neuro-Semantics 1996/2000
James Lawley and Penny Tompkins, Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through
Symbolic Modelling, Developing Company Press, 2000.
28 The Role of Mood in NLP
The Role of Moods in NLP

By Joe Cheal MSc
Moods, as background experiences, are rarely referenced within the NLP literature. This article
explores how research on moods from the emotional intelligence literature relates to what is
already available within NLP. There are also some suggestions for interventions we might use to
work through problematic moods and to transition to more resourceful moods.
Moods and Their Effect
Emotions come and emotions go, but moods seem to linger longer. According to Paul
Eckman (2004), whilst emotions will tend to be fleeting, lasting for seconds or perhaps
minutes, moods tend to be longer term (e.g. hours and days). Moods could be described as
medium-term background feelings that set a context for our short-term emotions. The
background mood acts like a filter on our emotions, making it easier to feel certain things
and less easy to feel other things, for example, when in an irritable mood, we tend towards
the emotion of anger. In acting like a filter, perhaps the purpose of mood is to keep us in a
ready state, with faster access to particular emotions and physiological reactions. A mood
of nervousness, for example, might be useful in a threatening context as it helps to
heighten the individuals awareness.
Not only does mood seem to prime us for the corresponding emotion, it may also
encourage us to look for things that match the mood and experience internal dialogue that
reinforces the mood. For example, if we are feeling irritable, we are perhaps more likely to
notice things in the outside world that annoy us and tell ourselves how irritating things
are. Hence we have a looping self fulfilling prophecy that will be positive or negative
depending on the individuals subjective experience:
Acuity Vol.1 No1 29
Mood Loops: A Positive Example
If Fred is feeling cheerful, he is less likely

to notice 'non-cheerful' things and more
likely to notice things that make him
happy, hence maintaining the mood of
cheerfulness.
The fact that mood changes over time must surely indicate that the loop can be interrupted
and replaced by another loop on a regular basis. This could be due to a physiological,
emotional and/or cognitive interruption generated internally, externally or both (e.g.
Goleman 1996).
Is Mood Like a State?
From an NLP perspective, although we do not usually use the terms 'emotions' and
'moods', we do refer to 'states'. In everyday usage, a state tends to refer to a condition of
mind or feeling, i.e. a state may well simply be an emotion. In NLP usage, however, a
state or state of mind refers to a more multi channel experience, complete with our
internal sensory representations (e.g. visual, auditory and kinaesthetic). Robert Dilts (2000,
p1300) defines a state as a gestalt of the neurological processes (mind and body) within
an individual at any given time An individuals state filters or affects the final result or
interpretation of his or her experience.
What are the connections and/or differences between state and mood? Linguistically, we
talk about being 'in a state' and being 'in a mood' as if using the metaphor of state and
mood as a container of some kind. We are less likely to talk about being 'in' an emotion
however, and more likely to say we are 'having' an emotion. This gives the impression on
a metaphor level that we are holding the emotion rather than it holding us. Whilst this is
not necessarily conclusive or absolute, it does give us a linguistic differentiation between
mood and emotion and connection between mood and state.
The NLP version of a state would usually include emotion but does it include mood? On
the one hand it would appear so, since mood would be part of the 'gestalt of the
neurological processes'. However, a state will only capture a 'snap-shot' of the ongoing
background mood as it is experienced at that moment in time. We might say that a mood
is not the same as a state but, like an emotion, it is part of a state.
If emotion is part of a state and mood primes emotion, surely mood would also prime us
for particular corresponding states, making it easier to access some states and less easy to
access others? If someone is experiencing a mood of happiness, it would seem easier to
access a joyous state.
Is Mood a Meta State?
According to Hall (2008,p388) a meta-state is a mental or emotional state of awareness

about another state and so may include feelings, thoughts, evaluations, judgements,
beliefs and values about that state. Whereas a state is a primary experience, a meta-state
will sit at a higher logical level, being a state about a state.
Since mood appears to prime, inform and govern our emotion, might we argue that mood
sits at a higher logical level than emotion? Does experiencing happiness, for example, sit at
a higher logical level than feeling happy?
Drawing from the work of Robert Dilts, Hall (2001,p82) separates out five criteria for
logical levels:
1) There is a hierarchy of experience.

2) Higher levels organise and control information on lower levels
3) Higher levels will necessarily affect lower levels
4) Lower levels will not necessarily affect higher levels (although it is possible)
5) Higher levels encompass and impact more than lower levels.
Perhaps the first two points are debatable. By saying that mood is background to
emotion's foreground are we talking about a hierarchy? Can we really say that moods
organise and control emotions? Points 3 and 4 seem closer to the relationship between
emotion and mood, although it would seem plausible that someone could have a cheerful
feeling during a 'down' mood. We might say that mood acts a kind of 'magnetic' influence
on emotion but is not necessarily an absolute force. With regard to point 5, can we say that
mood is more encompassing and has more impact on us than emotion? Perhaps, if viewed
over a long period of time, but emotions (as foreground experience) would seem to be
stronger at a specific moment in time.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 31
Is mood a meta-state? It would appear not. As well as only loosely fitting some of the
criteria for being a higher logical level, if a mood is not the same as a state, it cannot really
be defined as a state about a state. As suggested previously, it may be more helpful to say
that mood can be part of a state or a meta state.
Whether mood is simply part of a state, a meta-state or something else entirely, if we

accept that mood primes us for corresponding emotions, an intervention may be short
lived if it changes only a person's state but does not change the background mood. If
transitioning into a more resourceful mood primes us for more resourceful emotions and
states, then it would seem beneficial to consider some 'mood management' ideas and
interventions.
Getting out of the Mood: Changing States?
Most NLP interventions follow a similar pattern of eliciting the problem state and context,
breaking state, eliciting an outcome state and resources and then associating the resources
to the problem state (Overdurf & Silverthorn 2009). Because mood can last hours and
days, it may not fit specific contexts (although the trigger for a change in mood might if it
were possible to find it). Often, a mood is problematic because the person is 'in' it and they
don't want to be in it. They are already associated to their problem state/mood and need to
get out.
Goleman (1996) suggests that mood can change as a result of physiological, emotional
and/or cognitive interruptions generated internally, externally or both. If a mood can be
interrupted might a 'break state' be enough? Maybe if it is significant or strong enough. If
remembering what we had for breakfast isn't strong enough to change our background
mood, perhaps jumping up and down making a noise like a gorilla might be. It will no
doubt depend on the intensity and 'depth' of the mood. It is also feasible that whilst states
can be interrupted and changed through a break state, moods could revert back if the
ongoing conditions (e.g. context, environment) remain the same.
As well as interrupting or 'breaking' the mood, the key perhaps is in determining a

replacement mood that is more resourceful. What mood would they like to be in? As soon as
we have helped someone out of their mood, this would then seem the appropriate point to
help associate them into a new desired mood. NLP is an outcome oriented process and
working with mood is no different. In focussing on their desired outcome (i.e. what they
want) as opposed to the problem (i.e. what they dont want), the person is likely to begin
accessing the desired mood.
The following approaches are aimed at getting the person 'out' of their problematic mood
with a view to associating them into a resourceful mood.
Getting Meta to the Mood: 'Meta-moods' and 'Meta-states'
According to Mayer & Gaschke (1988), a 'meta-mood' concerns someone's thoughts and
feelings about their moods. Mayer and Gaschke, authors in the field of Emotional
Intelligence, also refer to meta-moods as meta-experience or reflective experience of mood.
As reflective experiences, meta-moods could be thoughts or feelings about moods. An
individual might feel irritable and then get annoyed with themselves for feeling irritable
and the annoyance here would be considered a meta-mood. Alternatively, someone may
feel irritable and then reflect on the cause of that irritability and this would also be
considered a meta-mood.
Mayer & Gaschke (1988, p106) divide meta-mood experiences into three cognitions that:
1) monitor mood (eg. I know exactly how Im feeling),

2) evaluate it (eg. Im ashamed of how Im feeling),
3) try to change it (eg. Im thinking good thoughts to cheer myself up).
They suggest however (p110) that mood-change experience is relatively rare in

comparison with mood monitoring and evaluation. This makes a kind of sense: If simply
deciding to cheer up always worked, sad moods would easily disappear and sad people
would be rare.
Within their definition, Mayer and Gaschke do not appear to account for meta-moods as
being 'moods about moods', which is a more probable interpretation from an NLP
perspective. It could be argued that Mayer and Gaschke's 'meta-mood' is really a meta-
state about mood.
Hall (2001, p14) discusses what he has called the Meta States Model and this model
proposes that we have states about our states, and that many of the feeling states that
trouble us are the result of tangling ourselves in these recursive loops. For example, we
feel annoyed about feeling stupid about feeling anxious. It is important here to detangle
the meta levels rather than thinking of them as the same. The point of understanding
meta-levels is to be able separate an issue out and to work through it at the appropriate
level.
As with anything involving a meta-level or meta-state, the meta-mood will sit at a higher
logical level to the original mood. This means that working at the level of meta-mood may
help us to manage the mood itself more easily and effectively. Sometimes, trying to
Acuity Vol.1 No1 33
resolve or change a mood from within (or at the same level as the mood) is a less-than-
easy task. Mayer and Gaschke (1988, p102) argue that a meta-mood as a regulatory
process is potentially important because, unlike mood, it may be directly under the
individuals control and may directly modulate mood itself.
In going meta to mood, an interesting intervention may be to elicit the submodalities (see
Bandler & MacDonald 1989) of the mood and then make changes. For example, what
would happen if we were to map across the submodalities of cheerfulness to our current
situation? The challenge is to get to the background mood itself rather than just the
foreground state. Perhaps Mayer and Gaschke's concept of meta-moods may be helpful to
us here. Changing a mood is going to be significantly easier when first disassociated (even
just cognitively) from that mood. I have also found that it is possible for people to access
the submodalities of a desired mood through being in second or third perceptual position
(i.e. disassociated). If working with a client, Fred, this can be done by asking: And how
does the Fred who is cheerful see the world? Colour or black and whiteetc. Even when
a person cannot access the mood directly, they seem to be able to elicit the submodalities
of the mood from a disassociated position. Interestingly, I have found that in the process
of eliciting the desired mood, people often begin to associate into it.
Reframing
As a meta-state, thinking (and talking) about a problematic mood will tend to have an
impact. What we think and say is likely to affect our emotions and moods, especially over
a period of time. How our moods are affected will depend on the manner of internal or
external dialogue. Thinking and talking with a focus on the mood as a problem may
perpetuate the mood. Alternatively, finding meaning, understanding or purpose in the
mood and situation may help us shift to feeling more resourceful and in control.
The NLP technique of reframing may be invaluable here in helping someone gain a
resourceful meta-perspective to their mood and current situation. In countering depressive
moods, Goleman (1996, p72) suggests that: Two strategies are particularly effective in the
battle. One is to learn to challenge the thoughts at the centre of rumination to question
their validity and think of more positive alternatives. The other is to purposely schedule
pleasant, distracting events. He later adds (p74) that: One of the most potent antidotes
to depression is seeing things differently, or cognitive reframing.
In Cognitive Therapy, there is a process called a 'Thought Record' which involves of

writing down one's experience in order to get a meta perspective and reframe that
experience (Greenberger & Padesky, 1995). The 'Thought Record' involves writing down:
the context, a label for the mood/feeling and a rating of its intensity (%), associated
thoughts, evidence for 'hot' thoughts (generalisations), counter-evidence, an
alternative/balanced thought and then another rating (%). It would appear that the
purpose of this process is to challenge the thoughts and generalisations supporting the
mood with counter-evidence and then encouraging a new more resourceful generalisation.
Some more traditional therapies and counselling processes seek to find the
cause/why/reason behind a problem. In this way, it is argued, the client can gain insights
into the problem and feel better (or perhaps more in control). Huy (2002) cites knowing
the cause of discomfort as a strategy for handling emotions as it has been found to reduce
anxiety levels and panic attacks among patients because it mitigates their fear of losing
control.
Hall (2001, p73) suggests: Certainly understanding causes, processes, contributing

factors, sources, etc. sometimes plays a therapeutic role in our minds-and-emotions. If in
response to the why, we respond with greater insight and ability to take effective action,
then the why question can work creatively and resourcefully Sometimes awareness does
bring about relief and even transformation.. But he goes on to caution: Yet it does not
always do so. Perhaps, not even usually. More typically, the exploration of the why creates
more of a problem-focus so that it increasingly solidifies us in our problem or negative state it
locates a person even more solidly inside the very frames-of-reference that create the
problem.
Whilst in NLP we tend to steer away from asking 'why', we do sometimes reframe to seek
the 'positive intention' of a situation. It would appear that this frame can help people to
make sense of their situation and move from being 'at effect' to being 'at cause'.
Changing and Denominalising our Language
In understanding our language around moods and emotions, is it more helpful to an

individual to use the verb to feel instead of to be for example I feel sad as opposed
to I am sad? It seems like our language encourages us to experience emotions and
moods as a complex equivalence at the level of our identity (e.g. I am sad means I =
sad). In addition, our language encourages us to turn emotions and moods into things
rather than processes. In order to help denominalise an emotion or mood, might we use
the term feeling instead of feel. Or might we have a feeling or be having a feeling? I have
a feeling of sadness? What is the verb form of sad? Perhaps we need some more
vocabulary around emotions and moods to help verb-alise and express them effectively!
Acuity Vol.1 No1 35
With regards to mood, we also use the phrase I am in a mood as if the mood is a
container of some sort. No wonder we sometimes feel we cannot escape it. Might we say:
I am going through a mood instead? And perhaps in order to speed that process up we
might consider the drop through technique (e.g. Bodenhamer & Hall 1997), which tends
to lead the person through problematic states into a stronger more resourceful place.
Associating into Resourceful Moods
How might you associate someone to more resourceful moods? As a starting point,
consider what moods they would find resourceful: Happiness? Excitement? Peacefulness?
Anticipation? Receptiveness? Enthusiasm?
Since mood is a part of a state, mood change could be achieved through state change. The
key is in a longer term focus, so that the person does not fall back into the old mood when
the resourceful state has passed.
Having identified a resourceful mood, you could use Dilts' Logical Levels model (Dilts
1990) for a framework of questions:
When and where do you experience this resourceful mood?

What is it like to be in this mood?
What do you feel and do when you are in this mood? What do you say to yourself?
What are you capable of? What interests you?
What is true for you? What is important to you?
Who are you?
Who else do you think of?
As the person answers the questions, listen out for hot words that seem to be associated
with the desired mood. Help them to associate to the resourceful mood (e.g. happiness):
And you know what it's like to be in that place of happiness now, don't you? Use their
hot words back to them, with any submodality changes you have elicited e.g. And so
things are brighter and youre feeling lifted and light. In this resourceful place, have them
come up with things they could do and perhaps places they could go to maintain their
new desired mood. If they are aware of what triggered the old mood, you could use their
new mood/state to collapse the anchor (as long as their new resourceful mood and state is
strong), e.g. and how do you feel about that [trigger] now?
Conclusion
Whilst moods are not currently central within the NLP field, they appear to have a
significant impact on our well-being. This is, in part, because they prime us for associated
emotions and states, and also because they are longer term experiences. Perhaps a focus
on mood interventions may prove to help us experience more resourceful states more of
the time.
Biography
Joe Cheal has been working with NLP since 1993. As well as being a master trainer of
NLP, he holds an MSc in Organisational Development and NLT, a degree in Philosophy
and Psychology, and diplomas in Coaching and in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy,
Psychotherapy and NLP. He is also a licensed EI practitioner.
Joe is a partner in the GWiz Learning Partnership (www.gwiztraining.com), working as a

Management & Organisational Development Specialist.
References
Bandler R. & Macdonald W. (1989) Insiders Guide to Submodalities Meta

Publications
Bodenhamer, B.G. & Hall, L.M. (1997) Time Lining Anglo-American Book Co., pp.
247-252
Dilts, R. (1990) Changing Belief Systems with NLP Meta Publications
Dilts, R. & DeLozier, J. (2000b) Encyclopedia of Systemic Neuro-Linguistic Programming
and NLP New Coding N-Z NLP University Press
Ekman, P. (2004) Emotions Revealed Phoenix
Goleman, D. (1996) Emotional Intelligence Bloomsbury
Greenberger, D. & Padesky, C.A. (1995) Mind Over Mood Guildford
Hall, L.M. (2001) NLP: Going Meta Neuro-Semantics
Hall, L.M. (2008) Meta-states: Third EditionNeuro-Semantics
Huy, Q.N. (2002) Emotional balancing of organizational continuity and radical
change: The contribution of middle managers Administrative Science Quarterly, 47,
31-69
Mayer, J.D. & Gaschke, Y.N. (1988) The experience and meta-experience of mood
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol.55, No.1, pp102-111.
Overdurf, J. & Silverthorn, J. (2009) Trainer Training Manual Neuroenergetics
Acuity Vol.1 No1 37
The Four Pillars and Coaching

Dr Angus I McLeod
The four pillars of NLP1 (McDermott 2006) are: rapport, (sensory) acuity, flexibility &
outcome (thinking)? What have these to do with coaching? Well, it may be interesting to
investigate coaching from these perspective and see what falls out from that learning
journey?
Rapport
Rapport is the unconscious sharing of patterns of thinking, feeling and speaking. The reason it is
vital in all coaching methodologies is that when people are in rapport they respond more easily to
each other (Linder-Pelz 2010)2. Surely then, there must be a significant level of rapport if
the coachee/individual is going to engage in a coaching conversation? Let me provide
some context for this.
1-2-1 coaching has been differentiated3 (Lawton-Smith 2007) as always working from the
coachees agenda to arrive at solutions and answers which are very individual and subjective. It is
also asserted4 (Merlevede 2004) that the notion of contract refers to getting a clear outcome for
the coaching or mentoring, and although essential in the coaching context, it is desirable, rather, in
a mentoring one.
In stark contrast to the 1-2-1 coaching situation, during informal coaching (for example in
managing people at work) the shared agenda is typically absent. Instead, the
manager/coach may make assumptions about the willingness of the coachee to engage on
a similar type of learning journey, but without an explicit and mutually agreed agenda.
However, the coach (in either of these two settings, whether formal 1-2-1 or informal) will
question the coachees understanding, their thinking processes and their experiencing of
their world.
If the coachee/individual is going to permit you to facilitate them on this journey, then
surely there must be a significant level of rapport for that permission to occur? Some
people might consider rapport to be measurable - simply a set of observable behaviours. If
this is so, then we will observe behavioural interactivity including a demonstrable
38 The Four Pillars and Coaching
willingness in the coachee to explore thinking (as a result of questioning by their coach).
The coachee may also appear to relax and to make natural movements, free from
intellectual control. We can probably guess that the observable behaviours of rapport
derive from higher, mutual values and these mutual values are likely to include shared
trust5 (Bateson 1972, Dilts 1994).
In practice, in informal settings, there is a dance of rapport-building that is tested by the

questions posed.
The zone model6 (Rohnke 1995) describes the stretch or learning that occurs in human
development. As coaches, we have to find the balance between the appropriate (and
developing) level of stretch for the coachee. The stretch is needed in order to challenge
thinking and to make the interventions worthwhile (i.e. significant for the coachee)
without reaching the panic situation. In practice, in the UK anyway, we find that many
coaches are if anything rather tame when it comes to challenging their coachee. Does that
matter? Unless it is a professional engagement, then probably it does not matter. In a
professional 1-2-1 setting though, coachees have a right to expect challenge to a far higher
degree than the coachee can possibly self-challenge or why bother with professional
coaching anyway?
Acuity Vol.1 No1 39
The Trust Building figure7 (McLeod 2007) shows a relationship between rapport in a
coaching relationship over time. The left-hand side shows a certain level of rapport in the
coachee from initial contact, stemming I believe, from assumed trust. This initial level of
rapport must vary depending upon the initial dynamic between the coach and coachee.
This dynamic will be influenced by many factors including experience and prejudice.
During coaching we might expect an increasing level of rapport to be established (with
time) as shown by the curve. From time to time there may be changes as the dance of
rapport is supported and challenged; as the coachee moves more or less from comfort to
stretch and back again. This journey may be tested by the depth of questioning that takes
place. Provided both parties come through those testing episodes feeling better for the
experience, the trust-building continues to improve.
As we see from the Panic Zone of Rohnke, there is a danger then that trust (and the
qualities of rapport) may be damaged if the shift to more challenging questions is
unwelcome generally, or specifically unwelcome due to a diminishing quality in the
dynamic. This is illustrated on the Trust Building curve by freefall, a rapid downturn in
rapport. The result of that in the coaching session should be obvious in the coachee, viz: at
extremes, to suffusion of blood into the peripheral tissues, alternatively to the exact
opposite (blanching) coupled with raised muscular tension, to angry outburst and a swift
exit!
In every situation where the outcome of a challenging intervention may have wounded
the quality of the dynamic, it is imperative that the coach deals with that quality of the
dynamic before attempting to coach through any alternate thread8 (McLeod 2003). In other
words, the mutual generation and building of trust must be attended to proactively by the
coach even if the dance of rapport building is not smooth.
For a coach/manager to operate successfully in developing rapid rapport and trust, the key
factors or qualities needed are sure to include the coachs principles, the level of
development of their humanity and their sensory acuity. Coaching tools of course, are of
tertiary importance. More about that later.
The first level of assumed rapport in a coachee may in part be patterned, as asserted
above. The pattern will be based on a multifactorial set of experiences and conditioning. It
may be worthwhile then to pause briefly and turn our attention to psychological patterns.
Patterns, along with limiting beliefs are great areas for coaches to demonstrate the
advantage of professional coaching versus self-coaching. The human brain is hard-wired
to develop repeatable, automatic patterns that may become unmonitored by an individual.
The whole field of pattern recognition9 is predicated on the patterned processes of the
mind leading to learned responses that are either conscious or unconscious. If a pattern is
to be perceived 10, or made conscious, then there must be someone to notice the patterns
existence (Lawley 2000). This perceiver may be the individual or an observer. From a
coaching perspective, the coach (observer) is asking pertinent questions to help a coachee
to self-awareness about their patterns.
At one level the existence of automatic patterns is enormously efficient. In contrast, when
we try to think about how we think (Double Loop learning 11, Dilts 2003), we must slow
down. At another level, the predisposition to patterns is a major flaw in humans that is,
when the patterns become obsolete and dysfunctional to the individual. Coaching skills
offer a unique and major service to people who may need to get conscious about such
dysfunctional and dated patterns. A coach who does not attend to such challenges and
does not give honest feedback may be regarded as not really doing their job.
Acuity: Insight & Intuition Checks

Sensory acuity can be expected to build upon experience and if that is so, then the process
of learning can also be patterned this learning is more or less conscious. For those
wishing to use NLP approaches to getting more conscious about their acuity, I recommend
Bandler 12 (1988).
Insight is regarded (Eysenck 1990) as various types of processes of conscious analysis with
numerous researchers offering models in explanation. All the processes appear to involve
Acuity Vol.1 No1 41
mindful discrimination, for example: comparison, sorting or relating to the past. Peter
Bluckert (2006) offers coaches a useful set of psychological understandings and insight or
psychological dimensions 13 as follows:
Recognises when unfinished situations in (coaches 14) may be affecting their current
performance
Identifies patterns, themes and issues that may be being re-enacted in the past
Distinguishes feelings, thoughts and reactions evoked by others from those
deriving from self
Can identify psychological complexity
Has some awareness of pathology
Can differentiate between coaching and therapeutic issues
Identifies issues and material to bring to supervision.
Intuition (Reber, 1995) however, is a mode of understanding or knowing characterized as a

direct and immediate and occurring without conscious thought or judgement. The author 15
recommends the view that, intuition is a response to subtle cues and relationships apprehended
implicitly, unconsciously. Intuition could be considered, as an unconscious process, to be
close to gut feeling (Sadler, 2007) 16 in that judgements may have no explicable
relationship to the world outside the coachs head.
Sensory acuity can be expected to be wildly inaccurate on occasion and hence a mind
read rather than based on sensory information: crossed arms can mean I am cold or, my
bladder is full rather than, I found that question rather challenging, thank you! And
please, do not start me on eye-cues 17. These sometimes create mistrust and even anger in
the general public 18, I've always hated that NLP eyeball bullshit. Talk about over-analyzing
everything and, That NLP eye cue shit is total bullshit. While there is support for eye-cues 19
(Bolstad 2002), Diamantopoulos (2008) avers 20 that there are conceptual and
methodological issues with current research. The public objections are perhaps more likely
to reflect mistrust of what they may reasonably regard as intrusive and manipulative
practices.
So, insight is driven by processing but cognitively advised by experience. And intuition is
spontaneously arising (possibly from experiential learning, but out of conscious knowing).
If both insight and intuition have both inherent weaknesses and strengths, how do we
know when we are right? Whether you work logically using (conscious attention to)
sensory acuity or whether you work intuitively (or both), then we all need to check our
assumptions with the coachee before developing a new thread of interventions. Only in
that way can we be sure to be right.
Flexibility
The management model shown (McLeod 2007) gives a relationship between an
individuals independence (in respect to their manager/coach; (y-axis)) and their personal
level of development as an individual (x-axis). As the individual progresses (within any
context) their needs for being managed reduces over time.
What we have seen in establishing coaching cultures in organisations, is that managers can
shift their style, in the majority of working situations, to one that is weighted towards the
right-hand side of the curve. In other words, the manager/coach can, invariably, use
facilitation/coaching interventions with most of the people most of the time, unless the
situation is urgent. If an individual/coachee has not enough experience, knowledge or
context to understand the coaching question (kindly see the figure) then the manager
moves from 1. (Facilitation/coaching/leadership) to 2. (Mentoring) and so offers some
ideas, examples (i.e. context) to help. If these still produce psychological inertia, the
manager moves to 3. (Information/support).
Here then, is a model for coaching & leadership that suggests that as managers and
coaches we are mostly better to operate with people on the basis that they are more able
than we gave them credit for up until now.
In organisations, coaching behaviours lead to cultures that develop their people faster -
we know that (McLeod 2010) 21, having taken 360o measures of observable
behaviours/performance both before and after these learning journeys towards the
Coaching Organisation. The other great advantage of this technology, is that managers
who are practicing with new coaching-skills, get to use those skills from minute one of
every day they then up-skill faster than their colleagues who are looking back over their
day to gauge where they might have used coaching interventions (if they had thought of it
at the time)!
This process of moving from coaching, mentoring and support (which can include
direction of course) requires flexibility and this is the same flexibility that is needed by
professional 1-2-1 coaches to suit the needs of their coaches, in the moment.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 43
There are many other needs for flexibility in coaching where the coach must move fluidly
between coaching, mentoring and information/support. One of the most interesting and
productive of these is the advanced skill of moving from:
questions that generate quick, logic thinking and responses,

to:
challenging questions that create self-reflective experiences where the coachee is

silent, and where the psychological and emotional journey/experience is almost all
that is conscious, and where bodily physiology is otherwise slowed down.
In this trance-like state, the coachee does not move, breathing is slow and shallow, eyes
are middle-distance focussed (for minimal external, visual stimulation). From this space,
the most cathartic coaching experiences may arise. By cathartic, we mean major leaps of
understanding, perception and motivation (or all three). David Grove said of trance 22,
trance is often the prerequisite in finding the answer and, clients alter their state in going
somewhere to get that answer. That somewhere, is where we want to leave them. These
advanced coaching skills are not essential to high-quality coaching. Indeed, Grove
considered trance states inessential to the use of Clean Language, but the ability to induce
these productive states demarks the difference between large C and small c coaches 23.
There are a myriad of skills that help achieve and maintain these trance states including
clean language 24, reflective language (McLeod 2003) and more advanced examples such
as trailing-off, but more about these and others, another time!
Outcome Thinking
Professional coaching is always framed by goals/targets and, emphasizes generative change,
concentrating on defining and achieving specific goals (Dilts 2003). Dilts also highlights the
essential double-loop learning which he describes as simultaneous outcomes of both
learning what to do and how to do it.
What the coach observes are issues and/or goals and these are then translated by the
coachee into achievable, sustainable, learning opportunities. A good coach then, is not just
coaching single issues and goals, but they are helping the coachee to embed and
contextualize their learning to be applied in different upcoming scenarios 25; hence the
word sustainable.
From a semantic standpoint, it may be useful to make distinctions between goal/target and
outcomes. In coaching, the coachees main target or goal is often framed by one or more
Acuity Vol.1 No1 45
other outcomes derived from value-judgements and values (most typically). Their
declared target or goal may, however, align or clash with those outcomes. (I take the point
that the target/goal may also be described as an outcome, but for clarity, am making a
temporary distinction).
Let me give the example of an individual in career-coaching who declared an intention

(target/goal) to be a helicopter pilot in the paramedic sector. When the other outcomes
were looked at more roundly, these included a desire in the coachee to work with others
in teams and to socialize with colleagues. The individual also wished to work in a certain
geographical area due to commitments to his sport. Having researched opportunities for
pilots in the area, he found that the pilots generally had very little interaction with on-call
medics at all and so his outcomes would be unlikely to be met, nor within his span of
control.
Skills
I started this article averring that key qualities of the performance coach include
principles, developed humanity and sensory acuity. I also rely massively on intuition but I
am doubtful whether this is necessary to coach to a high standard of effectiveness. I also
stated that these three key qualities are more important than tools and this supports and
extends the view 26 of coachings granddad, Tim Gallwey (2002).
We know many managers who are superb coaches without any formal training in
coaching, NLP or facilitation skills. Yes, a number of traits can be identified in their work,
but many of these managers often have no discernable toolkit from any discipline that I
am familiar with (including EI, TA, Gestalt, counselling etc). In other words, their
coaching brilliance arises from their inherent nature as developed, caring, adult humans.
One of the other insights about differentiators of great coaches compared to the rest of the
coaching community is the quality of questioning. One feature stands out and I am
grateful to James Lawley 27 (2009) for modelling from master-class videos and hence
identifying this quality: as he says, from modelling any number of coaches, the master-
coach was consistently very different from all the others that he modelled in the quality of
the questioning. And that quality? That, every question was posed wholly for the benefit
of the coachee. This insight offers all coaches and managers a new and key learning about
top-level coaching. We can all grow and improve what we do as managers and coaches by
reframing the purpose of our questioning and making sure that these are for the
enlightenment of the coachee and not for ourselves.
Conclusion
Any perspective on coaching raises useful calibration and context - NLP is no exception.
The four pillars of NLP are all necessary adjuncts to best practice in coaching whether NLP
trained or not, but care needs to be taken in the understanding of rapport. Good coaches
will be risking rapport and developing trust in the dynamic by inviting the coachee to new
levels of stretch. In that journey, the quality of rapport may by temporarily risked and in
any case, whatever the outcome of that intervention, the coach must be prepared to deal
with issues in the dynamic before returning to other coaching threads.
We can use insights arising from acuity including intuition but are advised always to
check with the coachee that our assumptions are useful to them.
There are key differentiators between coaches and great coaches. One of these is the ability
to take coachees to productive trance states from where cathartic leaps of learning can
occur. Another key differentiator lies in questioning, where the great coach is asking
questions only for the enlightenment of the coachee and not to inform themselves.
Biography
Dr. Angus McLeod is Visiting Professor of Coaching at Birmingham City University

Business School and author of many papers & books on coaching, NLP and leadership.
Books include, Performance Coaching and Me, Myself, My Team (both Crown House), Self-
coaching Leadership (John Wiley) and Performance Coaching Toolkit (McGraw-Hill/OU, 2010).
Prof. McLeod designed both (distance-learning) performance coaching diploma courses at
Newcastle College with over 15,000 students to date. He researches and supervises
academic research in the UK. Angus facilitates master-classes in coaching, trains managers
and he coaches 1-2-1., all internationally.
Angus is part of Angus McLeod Associates, a company that trains managers in the use of
coaching skills to use in their day-to-day managing styles. www.angusmcleod.com.
References
1. McDermott, I. (2006) NLP Coaching, in ed J. Passmore, Excellence in Coaching:

The Industry Guide, Kogan Page Ltd, London & Philadelphia, Chapter 7.
2. Linder-Pelz, S. (2010) NLP Coaching: An Evidence-based approach for coaches,
leaders and individuals (p.22), London. Philadelphia & New Delhi, Kogan-Page
Limited.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 47
3. Lawton-Smith, C. & Cox, E. (2007) Coaching: Is it just a new name for training?
International J. Evidence Based Coaching & Mentoring, (p.4) Special Issue,
Summer.
4. Merlevede, P. & Bridoux, D. (2004) Mastering Mentoring and Coaching with
Emotional Intelligence, (p.11) Crown House Publishing, Carmarthen, UK &
Williston, VT.
5. For example see: Bateson, G. (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind, Ballantine,
New York. And, Dilts, R. (1994) Strategy of Genius, Vol. I, Paladin Press,
Boulder, CO.
6. Rohnke, K. & Butler, S. (1995) Quicksilver: Adventure Games, Initiative
Problems, Trust Activities and a Guide to Effective Leadership. Dubuque, IO.,
Kendall-Hunt Publishing.
7. McLeod, A. (2007) Self-Coaching Leadership Simple Steps from Manager to
Leader. San Francisco and Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
8. McLeod, A. (2003) Performance Coaching The Handbook for Managers, H.R,
Professionals and Coaches. NY and Carmarthen: Crown House Publishing.
9. See, for example, Eysenck, M. & Keane, M. (1990) Cognitive Psychology: A
Students Handbook, Hove, UK & Hillsdale, US., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
10. Lawley, J. & Tompkins, P. (2000) Metaphors in Mind: Transformations Through
Symbolic Modelling. (p.148) London, The Developing Company Press.
11. Dilts, R. (2003) From Coach to Awakener. Capitola, CA., Meta Publications.
12. Bandler, R. (1988) An Insiders Guide to Sub-modalities. Capitola, CA., Meta
Publications.
13. Bluckert, P. (2006) Psychological Dimensions of Executive Coaching. (p.96)
Maidenhead, UK., Open University Press.
14. Bluckert used the term client which in private practice is often used instead of
the term coachee; in professional coaching settings, client typically means the
buyer of coaching services.
15. Reber, A. (1995) Dictionary of Psychology, 2nd Edition. London, NY., Victoria,
Ontario, Aukland, Penguin Books.
16. Sadler, E. (2007) Inside Intuition, Abingdon, Routledge.
17. Bandler, R. & Grinder,J. (1979) Frogs into Princes: Neuro-linguistic
Programming, Boulder, CO, Real People Press.
18. http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2007/03/nlp-no-longer-plausibe.html/.
19. Bolstad, R. (2002) Resolve: A New Model of Therapy, Carmarthen & NY, Crown
House Publishing.
20. Diamantopoulos, G., Woolley, S.I. & Spann, M. (2008) A critical Review of Past
Research into the NLP Eye-accessing Cues Model, Proceedings of the NLP
Research Conference, London, ANLP.
21. McLeod, A. & Jenkins, W. (2010) Doing the Rounds: A 360 Model for measuring
the impact of training on managers The Training Journal, July.
http://www.trainingjournal.co.uk/feature/2010-07-01-doing-the-rounds/.
22. Reported by Lawley & Tompkins (2003; p. 81).
23. Coined by Dilts, 2003 (p.xiii).

24. Invented by David Grove and elegantly modelled by Lawley and Tompkins
(Lawley 2000).
25. Future pacing
26. Gallwey, W.T. (1999) ICF plenary lecture.
27. Lawley, J. (2009) private communication.
Acuity Vol.1 No1 49
7+2 Keys To Becoming A World-Class Coach
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
What makes a person world-class as a coach?

Are there any secrets for becoming a world-class coach?
What are the prerequisites of knowledge and skill that secures a coachs success?
What are 7 keys to becoming a world-class coach yourself or for finding one?
What does the Meta-Coach training system offer that facilitates becoming world-
class?
Whats involved in becoming a highly effective coach with a successful practice and
building a first-class reputation?
In 1999 Coaching became the second fastest growing industry in the world behind I.T.
People at all levels of business, industry, government, media, and entrepreneurship have
discovered the power of having a professional coach to facilitate their success. Coaching
has become a revolution in business as a managerial tool and as a way to truly empower
people to use their brains and talents. No longer is coaching reserved just for top athletes,
Fortune 500 CEOs, or Presidents. Today ordinary men and woman are now achieving
tremendous personal growth, taking their performances to new levels of achievement, and
experiencing greater personal and career success via unleashing new peoples as they
experience Coaching.
Now there is a downside to all of this. The downside is that there many unqualified and
poorly skilled people who are hanging up coaching signs. This is flooding the market
with low quality coaching which is, in turn, threatening to sabotage the field and
undermine the value and uniqueness of coaching. There is good news. In a market-
driven industry, the good news is that those who are truly skilled, who have the world-
class qualities of an effective coach, and who operate from a solid coaching
methodologythey will rise to the top of the field. They will be the ones to make a
difference.
Whats the difference between a mediocre coach and one who is truly productive,
effective, and professional one who is a world-class coach?
50 7+2 Keys to Becoming a World-Class Coach
How can we learn from expert coaches around the world and take our coaching
skills and practice to a new level?
KEY #1:
A WORLD-CLASS COACH KNOWS THE HEART OF COACHING AND CLEARLY

DISTINGUISHES THE COACHING BOUNDARIES
In order for coaching, as a field and movement, to become a profession in its own right, it
has to have clear distinctions between itself and the other helping fields of therapy,
training, consulting, mentoring, and hypnotherapy. Without such distinctions, coaching
becomes just a step-child of these fields. But with the clear distinctions, a coach will know
his or her boundaries and be able to know when to refer.
Personal Questions if you want to be a World-Class Coach:
Do you know how coaching differs from the other modalities?

Are you able to draw a clear line between them and know when and how to refer as
well as why?
How does coaching differ from consulting, mentoring, training, and therapy?
What training and level of expertise do you have in facilitating a coaching
conversation?
How will you handle clients who need something other than self-actualization
facilitation?
The Key Helping Modalities:
The core competency in consulting is giving advice and expertise in knowledge and
Acuity Vol.1 No1 51
skill.
The core competency in mentoring is guiding from experience.
The core competency in training is teaching and drilling in new skills.
The core competency in counseling and therapy is solving problem, healing hurts,
resolving traumas and building up ego-strength so the person gets up to average
and becomes okay.
KEY #2:
WORLD-CLASS COACHING IS CENTERED IN A COGNITIVE METHODOLOGY
Coaching, as a collaborative and creative partnership, needs to be more than just a flying
by the seat of the pants process. It needs to be more than just a grab bag of tricks from
self-help books and seminars. Coaching needs to have a systemic framework based on the
best knowledge in the cognitive-behavioural sciences. The world-class coach will know
what to do, when, with whom, how, and why. To do that a person needs a psychological
model that enables understanding of human development, consciousness, communication,
learning, change, and self-actualization.
Why? Well, first and foremost because thats what coaching is all aboutcommunicating
and co-creating with a client a compelling future and facilitating the change for learning to
mobilize resources that will unleash the clients potentials for actualizing his or herself
best talents. What then is coaching?
Personal Questions if you want to be a World-Class Coach:
Do you have a systematic coaching methodology? What is it?

Is your methodology based in the cognitive-behavioural sciences?
Do you know how to use it so that you know what to do when with whom and
why?
Is your coaching methodology for healthy and self-actualizing people or does it
come from the field of therapy?
Can you answer the question in specific detail: How do you know what to do,
when, with whom, how, and why?
KEY #3:
WORLD-CLASS COACHING COMMUNICATES TO EVOKE STATES.
At the heart of coaching is a conversation, a dialogue that gets to the heart of things. As a
special kind of communication, the coach must be highly skilled and professional as a
communicator. This involves competency equally with both the verbal and non-verbal
dimensions, with knowing how to ask questions, explore words, comment on gestures,
calibrate to states and physiological responses, and much more.
Appreciating the complexity of communication, a world-class coach continually works on

the foundational skills and competencies of communication. In NLP the Meta-Model
provides 22 distinctions in language for creating precision while the Milton model allows
you to use language to induce resourceful states that solidify new learnings and decisions.1
A distinctive feature of NLP is that it is about neuro-linguistics and not merely
linguisticsit deals with how language affects people emotionally as it evokes states.
Personal questions if you want to be a world-class coach:
What model of communication do you use?

Is it grounded in the cognitive behavioural sciences?
How do you respond when the response you get isnt the response you wanted?
WHAT COACHING IS AND THE META-COACHING MODELS
Coaching Meta-Coaching Models2 Psychologies
1) Communication The NLP Communication Model Cognitive-Behavioural

2) Self / Meta- The Meta-States Model3 Cognitive, Meta-Cognitive
Communication
Reflexivity
3) Change and Learning The Axes of Change model4 Gestalt
4) Implementation The Benchmarking Model5 Cognitive, Sports Psy
5) Systems The Matrix Model6 Developmental
6) Self-Actualization Self-Actualization Matrix Systems
Self-Actualization Quadrants7 Self-Actualization
Self-Actualization Model Existential psych
7) Facilitation The Facilitation Model
KEY #4:
WORLD-CLASS COACHING STEPS BACK TO THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF

AWARENESS
Coaching doesnt just involve communication, it involves the unique human kind of
consciousness and communicatingself-reflexive consciousness and meta-communication
skills. This is where the Meta-States Model offers you so much for coaching as a
profession. To be world-class as a coach, you have to apply the principles of coaching to
Acuity Vol.1 No1 53
yourself. This creates the power of personal congruency. And in a profession like
coaching, credibility is critical to your success. Its critical for marketing and positioning, it
is critical for being winsome and influential as a business person. And given that most
coaching clients come through word-of-mouth marketing and referrals, the coachs
personal congruence, professionalism, reputation, and ethics is central to a successful
practice.
Because coaching is a very personal and experiential discipline, a world-class coach knows
coaching from the inside out having experienced it and has a coach for his or her on-going
development. This demonstrates the importance of congruence or walking the talk for
the professional coach.
Do you engage in self-coaching practices? When and how?

Are you part of some larger community of coaches, the ICF,8 the MCF, etc.?
Who coaches you? Do you have a coach? Who holds you accountable?
Do you run an ethical and professional coaching practice?
What are you working on in terms of unleashing more of your potentials?
How well do you apply the coaching values and principles in your own life?
What personal successes do you have in achieving your own outcomes?
KEY #5
WORLD-CLASS COACHING FACILITATES GENERATIVE CHANGE
NOT THERAPEUTIC CHANGE.
Coaching is about change, its about facilitating generative change at numerous levels and
stages. As an effective change agent, a coach needs to know the levels of change, the
dance of change, the process of facilitating generative change, and have a change model
thats not based on therapy. There are numerous kinds of coaching and coaching skills
based upon the kind of coaching that one takes on:
1) Performance Coaching:
Enhancing skills and behaviours.
2) Developmental Coaching:
Evolutionary change to beliefs, values and identity.
3) Transformational Coaching:
Revolutionary change in purpose, direction and meaning.
What are the levels, dimensions, and stages of change?

What change model do you use in coaching?
How skilled are you as a change agent?
What skills have you developed for facilitating change?
Whats the difference between a therapy change model of change and a non-
therapy change model? Why is that important?
Do you have the skills for detecting where a person is in the change process and for
coaching someone through that level?
Batesons levels of learning / change offers a model for the levels of change.9 Do you
know those levels? The Axes of Change model offers a non-therapeutic change model,
actually the only one in the field of coaching. For coaches, this distinguishes the field of
coaching from therapy and uses the premises of coaching to govern the operation of
generative change.
In the field of coaching today, every coaching school that we have examined uses old
therapy assumptions and change models. How can we tell? For one thing, every model
assumes clients will resist change, think of change are hard and painful, and will
almost inevitably relapse. Those statements are more true for people who need therapy
and untrue for people who have moved beyond the deficiency needs into the growth or
self-actualizing needs. Unlike the change-resisters, they are change-embracers. They
dont fear change, they long for it, plan for it, and desire it.
KEY #6:
WORLD-CLASS COACHING FACILITATES THE SELF-ACTUALIZATION OF

CLIENTS.
Because coaching is about generative change rather than remedial change, it is based upon
and expresses Self-Actualization Psychology. This psychology addresses those who have
move beyond the deficiency needs on Maslows hierarchy. Because coaching is for healthy
people who want to realize or actualize their full potential, an effective coach knows and
operates from a self-actualization model that provides insight about how to facilitate that
kind of change and development.
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What kind of psychology is your coaching based on?

Is it grounded in Self-Actualizing Psychology for unleashing potentials of healthy
people?
If so, how do you think of that and communicate it to clients?
Do you ever do therapy and calling it coaching?
Whats the difference in self-actualization and traditional psychology?
What are the premises of Self-Actualization Psychology?
Maslow shifted the psychology paradigm from a psychology of pathology to one of

studying healthy self-actualizing people. People who operate from a higher or meta-
needsthe needs of those who are seeking to express and actualize their potentials, rather
than satisfy deficiencies, are those who are best suited for coaching.
Lower Needs: 1) Survival Needs

2) Safety and Security Deficiency Needs
3) Love and Affection
4) Self-Regard, Self-Esteem
Higher Needs: 5) Self-Actualization Being Needs (Growth, Expressive)
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
The Lower Needs The Higher Needs

Based in biology and genetics Based in psychology and semantics
Instinct-like in being more determined Governed by our cognitive understandings and beliefs
When in deficiency state, felt strongly Not motivated by deficiency,
and dominating states felt strongly as expression of growth
Desire homeostasis Desire disequilibrium
Removal of challenges and changes Embrace challenges and changes
Drive goes away, satisfied Drives grows, expands, amplifies
Deficiency motivation Abundance / Expression motivation
Purpose: to reduce need, create homeostasis Non-purposeful: end value, not means to an end
Post gratification forgetting Memorable peak experience
Satisfied directly with specific gratifications Satisfied mostly indirectly
Few if any preconditions Preconditions for gratification
Satisfied mostly by self, individually Satisfied mostly in relationships with others
Individualistic Social, relational, Altruistic
These drives move us to Comfort These drives move us to Challenge
More independent of others Dependent on others, communication
KEY #7
WORLD-CLASS COACHES WORK SYSTEMICALLY WITH THE MIND-BODY-

EMOTIONAL STATES OF CLIENTS.
Coaching, of all fields and professions, is about systems and about working systemically
and holistically with the mind-body-emotion system. Its for this reason that coaching so
often focuses on the wheel of life and work/life balance, and taking an integrative
approach to mind-and-emotions, the hard and soft skills, etc.
If coaching by definition works with the human mind-body system, then an effective and
world-class coach will think and interact systemically. For this the Matrix model gives the
meta-coach a real advantage. The Matrix model combines cognitive-behavioural
psychology with developmental psychology to identify both the process and the content
matrices that govern and determine our sense of reality. It also enables a coach to know
how to follow the clients energy as his or her mind-body-emotion system operates with
its feedback and feed forward loops.
Using the Meta-States Model, The

Matrix Model was developed to
provide even more structure about
how we create layers upon layers of
meaning which elicit our emotional
states. From there we create specific
content that we carry with us
everywhere we go, content about our
mappings of ourselves, our capacities,
our relationships and sense of others,
time, and the many universes of
meaning that are out there.
Personal questions if you want to be a

world-class coach:
What does it mean to think and work systemically as a coach?

What systems model embraces the entire mind-body-emotion system that you work
with?
How do you think about working with the feedback loop of information coming
Acuity Vol.1 No1 57
into the mind-body system and up the levels?

How do you recognize or work with the feed forward loop of information
transforming into the energy of emotions, language, and behaviour?
KEY #8:
A WORLD-CLASS COACH CONTINUES TO DEVELOP, IMPROVE, AND

BENCHMARK HIS OR HER SKILL COMPETENCIES IN COACHING.
While on the outside, coaching may look like an easy and simple thing, just talking and
asking questions, it is not as easy as it looks. High quality skills of listening, questioning,
supporting, inducing states, giving and receiving feedback, along with many other
coaching skills can be quite demanding. A professional coach will have taken coach
specific training and been accredited in his or her development of the coaching
competencies. In the Meta-Coach training system we have used a benchmarking process to
specify precise behavioural measures and scale some 26 coaching skills which we then use
to measure a persons actual competency.11
To facilitate the highest quality of skills, in Neuro-Semantics we use the Mind-to-Muscle

pattern to close the knowing-doing gap as well as the Benchmarking Model for both a tool
in working with businesses and to apply to our coaching skills.12
Do you have the competency of the core coaching skills to be effective?

Have you achieved competency in specific core coaching skills?
How do you know you are competent in facilitating change?
Where are you as a coach on the competency scale with any given skill? How do
you know?
Do you know how to benchmark intangible skills so you can give concrete and
specific behaviours to the skill?
How many skills can you demonstrate a benchmarked competency to?
KEY #9:
WORLD-CLASS COACHING RUNS A FINANCIALLY PROFITABLE BUSINESS
Coaching is first and foremost about the skills of communicating, working with change, a
clients mind-body-emotion system, and facilitating self-actualization, yet it is also about
the business of running a coaching practice. To be effective in the marketplace, a coach has
to market and sell him or herself, put on the business hat and create a viable office, and
take care of the administrative tasks, billing, office environment, etc. A common
occupational hazard of people entering this field is that while they are strong on their
people skills, their business skills suck. In Meta-Coaching, we encourage coaches to
complete a Matrix Business Plan and both coach to it and be coach to it so as to unleash the
coachs potentials for increasing ones business intelligence.
Personal questions to facilitation your successful practice:
Do you have a business plan for your coaching niche, market, speciality, practice,
etc.?
Could you get a loan from a bank with your current Business Plan? Is it well-
developed?
Does it fit with who you are and excite you to make it happen?
What coaching do you need to receive to create a practical and achievable business
plan?
Summary
Coaching is about success. First, it is about empowering clients to become more

successful in their personal, business, financial, and relational lives. Its about
mobilizing resources to unleash untapped potentials. For that reason, one of the
best sources of credibility and personal confidence is to apply to self to receive
coaching about how to coach effectively and how to run a successful practice.
Second, it is about the coachs own success.
In the Meta-Coaching System we work to this outcome empowering coaches to be

successful themselves and to live in a network of coaching relationships that
continually support their own growth and development.
Biography
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., researcher and modeler of psychological excellence,

developer of Meta-States Model, the Matrix Model, Self-Actualization models and co-
creator of the International Society of Neuro-Semantics (with Dr. Bob Bodenhamer)
and both the Meta-Coach System and the Meta-Coach Foundation (MCF) (with
Michelle Duval).
Michael has been writing a series of Meta-Coaching books: Volume I: Coaching

Change, Volume II: Coaching Conversations; Vol. III: Unleashed! Vol. IV: Self-
Acuity Vol.1 No1 59
Actualization Psychology, Vol V: Achieving Peak Performance, Vol. VI: Unleashing

Leadership. Vol. VII: The Crucible; Vol. VIII: Benchmarking.
For more about Meta-Coaching, see:
www.meta-coaching.org
www.neurosemantics.com
References
1. To see the 21 distinctions of the Meta-Model, see Hall, L. Michael. (2001). Communication Magic
(2001), previously titled, The Secrets of Magic (1997). Richard Bandler asked me to write this book,
at first it was going to be co-authored for the 25th anniversary of the Meta-Model. Richard wanted
me to track the development of the Meta-Model over the years.
2. Meta-Coaching is based on seven models, the NLP Communication Model (Bandler, Richard;
Grinder, John. (19975, 1996). The Structure of Magic, Volumes I and II), The Meta-States Model (1994,
2005), Hall, L. Michael. The Matrix Model (2003), for the Self-Actualization Quadrants see Unleashed!
(2007) and Self-Actualization Psychology (2008). For the Axes of Change Model see Coaching Change:
Meta-Coaching Volume I (2005). The Benchmarking Model will be in the book, Benchmarking (due in
2011).
3. Hall, L. Michael (1994/ 2005). The Meta-States Model: Self-Reflexivity and the Higher Levels of the
Mind. Clifton, CO: Neuro-Semantic Publications.
4. Axes of Change Model. See, Hall, L. Michael (2005). Coaching Change, Meta-Coaching Volume I.
Clifton, CO: Neuro-Semantic Publications.
5. The Benchmarking Model will be in the book, Benchmarking (due in 2011).
6. Hall, L. Michael. The Matrix Model (2003) The Meta-States Model: Hall, L. Michael (2005), Meta-
States. Clifton, CO: Neuro-Semantic Publications.
7. Self-Actualization Quadrants, see Unleashed! (2007) and Self-Actualization Psychology (2008).

Clifton, CO: Neuro-Semantic Publications.
8. ICF stands for International Coach Federation, MCF stands for the Meta-Coach Foundation, a non-
profit organization located in Australia.
9. Bateson, Gregory (1972). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago.
10. The source for The Wheel of Life is unknown, it was and continued to be used in a great many
books on Life Coaching.
11. In the Training Manual for Coaching Mastery, Module III of Meta-Coaching we have 26
Coaching Skills benchmarked.
12. For the Mind-to-Muscle Pattern, see Hall, L. Michael (1997), Secrets of Personal
Mastery. UK: Crown House Publications.
KEYS FOR WORLD-CLASS COACHING
A world-class Coach
#1. Knows the heart of coaching and its boundaries
#2. Is centred in a cognitive-behavioural methodology
#3. Communicates effective in evoking states
#4. Steps back to work with reflexive awareness
#5. Facilitates generative change, not therapeutic
#6. Facilitates self-actualization in clients
#7. Works systemically with mind-body-emotional states
#8. Keeps developing high skill competency in coaching
#9. Runs a profitable business practice as a coach

Acuity Vol.1 No1 61
The How Behind The Secret

Dr Richard Bolstad
The Biggest Mistake In The History Of Personal Development?
In many ways, the NLP students who attend my certification courses are a lot better
prepared than students twenty years ago. But in the last four years, a small percentage of
them demonstrate a child-like naivety that I did not see two decades ago. This small group
resist investigating the structure of success and insist that success has no structure. They
maintain that any questions which leave them feeling uncertain or uncomfortable about
their success are best not asked. They consider systematically modelled processes to be a
distraction from the one true source of success a model called simply The Secret.
In this article I want to examine a personal development model (The Secret) with many
superficial similarities to NLP. I want to give some of the reasons why I consider it the
biggest mistake in the history of personal development since the invention of organised
religion. And I want to urge its replacement by well-researched techniques modelled from
those who actually demonstrate a real ability to manifest their dreams.
The Secret of Jack Canfields Success?
The film The Secret was released in 2006. The secret referred to in the films title is the
Law of Attraction that over time you will attract whatever you put your attention on
(positive or negative). The level of joy you experience as you focus on something lets you
know what kind of reality you are creating. The original DVD of The Secret is focused
on the teachings of Esther and Jerry Hicks, who since 1986 have, they say, channelled a
group of spiritual teachers collectively called Abraham.
As thousands of people worldwide grab on to The Secret as the final answer to success,
new research shows that the more people believe in such a law of attraction the less they
achieve. In this article I will show you how this happens, because the Secret aligns with
one of the two key traits of high achievers (their focus on the positive) and contradicts the
other (their focus on consciously planning action).
62 The How Behind The Secret
Firstly, what does The Secret tell you to do to put this Law of Attraction into practice?
In the film, Chicken Soup For The Soul co-author Jack Canfield summarizes the films
message like this: Decide what you want, believe you can have it, believe you deserve it,
and believe its possible for you. And then close your eyes every day for several minutes
and visualise having what you already want and feeling the feelings of already having it.
Come out of that and focus on what youre grateful for already and really enjoy it, OK.
And then go into your day and release it to the universe and TRUST that the universe will
figure out HOW to manifest it. He gives the example of his own first great goal to earn
$100,000 in the next year, set at a time when he was earning about $8,000 a year.
Canfield says that after he started visualising his goal all of a sudden I was in the
shower and I was about four weeks into it, and I had a $100,000 idea. It just came straight
into my head. I had a book I had written, and I said If I can sell 400,000 copies of my book
at a quarter each, thatd be $100,000. And then, I saw the national enquirer at the
supermarket. Id seen that millions of times and it was just background, and all of a
sudden it jumped out at me as foreground and I thought Wow, if readers knew about my
book, certainly 400,000 people would go out and buy it. And about six weeks later I gave
a talk at Hunter College in New York to 600 or so teachers, and this lady comes up to me
at the end and she says That was a great talk and Id like to interview you. Let me give
you my card. I said Who do you write for? and she said Im a freelancer but I sell most
of my stuff to the National Enquirer.
It sounds a lot like an NLP-style visualization process. Its a wonderful and inspiring
story. But a quick glance at Jack Canfields own life makes it clear that it is not the full
explanation of his own success. Jack Canfield has a BA from Harvard, a Masters degree
from the University of Massachusetts and training as a university teacher, a workshop
facilitator, and a psychotherapist. His company Self Esteem Seminars trains educators and
corporate leaders. Canfield has co-authored over 35 Chicken Soup For The Soul books
since 1992 and says the first two books in that series alone took him two years each to
produce. The authors talk in their preface to the second book (Canfield and Hansen, 1993,
page xi) about needing a holiday to unwind from the pressures of writing and speaking.
and about valuing the emotional support they got to persevere through what seemed like
a totally overwhelming and never-ending task. Jack Canfield had written the book a job
that seemed like a totally overwhelming and never-ending task already. He was both
trained as a teacher and an accomplished writer and he was willing to put in the extra
time promoting his book at presentations and writing about his book and writing the
follow-ups. When he urges us, on the DVD The Secret to let the universe solve the
How, his statement needs to be read in this light. NLP has studied the how of success
in a number of fields. High achievers frequently do not know themselves how they get
Acuity Vol.1 No1 63
results, but that does not mean there is no how or that great results somehow magically
fall from the sky. They certainly didnt for Jack Canfield.
Virginia Satir, the first expert studied by the developers of NLP, said in her foreword to
the first ever NLP book, The Structure of Magic (Bandler and Grinder, 1975): Looking
back, I see that, although I was aware that change was happening, I was unaware of the
specific elements that went into the transaction which made change possible. I do
something, I feel it, I see it, my gut responds to it that is a subjective experience. When I
do it with someone else their eyes, ears, body sense these things. What Richard Bandler
and John Grinder have done is to watch the process of change over a time and to distill
from it the patterns of the how process. (Satir, in Bandler and Grinder, 1975, p. viii).
The history of NLP is the history of discovering the how that makes success happen
behind the apparent magic of intuition and synchronicity. Robert Dilts emphasises that in
successful creativity, the dreamer state is followed by a realist state and then a critic
state (Dilts, Epstein and Dilts, 1991). Since 1993, Professor K. Anders Ericsson of Florida
State University has conducted scores of studies and collated research from round the
world about this question. He examined such fields as business success, medical practice,
sports, musical aptitude and chess playing (Ericsson, 2003, 2004). His first major
conclusion is that nobody is great without sustained work. It's nice to believe that if you
find the field where you're naturally gifted, you'll be great from day one, but it doesn't
seem to happen. There's no research evidence of top world class performance without
approximately ten years experience or practice. The more hours put into that experience,
the higher the success. That includes the apparent exceptions people such as golfer Tiger
Woods (whose father had him practicing golf since he was 3 years old).
The Greatest people In History
So how did the producers of The Secret get the idea that the how doesnt need
figuring out? There are three types of people quoted in Rhonda Byrnes book as experts in
The Secret, from whom she learned The Secret. They are:
Exponents of New Thought, a movement that began in the late 19th century, continued
through the early 20th century, and produced a number of writers of think yourself
rich books.
The people those writers claimed to model; historical figures who were actually highly
successful including inventors, philosophers and scientists.
The living teachers of The Secret, who appear on the DVD.
Byrne explains at the start of her book that she was first introduced to The Secret in 2004,
when her daughter Hayley gave her a copy of Wallace D. Wattles book The Science of
Getting Rich, originally published in 1910. In her book and DVD, Byrne mentions several
other people from the New Thought movement of that time, a period which gave the
world its first wave of get rich quick books. Byrne goes on to claim, I began tracing The
Secret back through history. I couldnt believe all the people who knew this. They were the
greatest people in history: Plato, Shakespeare, Newton, Hugo, Beethoven, Lincoln,
Emerson, Edison, Einstein. (Bryne, 2006, p. ix).
Journalist Karen Kelly has checked out this history of The Secret a little more carefully. She
identifies Wallace Wattles as one of a series of wandering speakers and writers advocating
The Secret in early twentieth century America, often under the name New Thought.
Wallace Wattles himself never attained the success that his teachings promise though.
Wallace Wattles, explains his daughter Florence, was poor and fearful of poverty most of
his life, and in his last years, his family survived on the meager earnings that his lectures
on The Secret gave them. He was also physically very frail, and he died in 1911, just one
year after publishing his book The Science of Getting Rich.
Wattles is not such an inspiring personal example, perhaps. But maybe those greatest
people in history were really the masters of using the secret, and Wattles and his fellow
writers were merely the publicists. Unfortunately, Karen Kellys research shows that most
of these successful scientists, industrialists and philosophers openly ridiculed The
Secret. Here are a few examples.
Byrne quotes Winston Churchill as a master of The Secret because he said You create
your own universe as you go along. (Byrne, 2006, p 36). Actually, Kelly points out, that
quote is taken out of context. Churchill was making fun of The Secret. The context is
this (quoted in Kelly, 2007, p 172) You create your own universe as you go along. The
stronger your imagination the more variegated your universe. When you leave off
dreaming, the universe ceases to exist. These amusing mental acrobatics are all right to
play with. They are perfectly harmless and perfectly useless.
Byrne quotes Einstein as saying Imagination is everything. It is the preview of lifes

coming attractions. (Byrne, 2006, p 91). Kelly checked with several experts on Einsteins
quotations and found that this quote may be attributed to him, but he never said it. In
fact, in 1936 he replied to a question about whether he believed in prayer by saying
Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined
by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the actions of people. For this reason, a
research scientist will hardly be inclined to believe that events could be influenced by a
prayer, ie by a wish addressed to a Supernatural Being. (Kelly, 2007, p 176).
Acuity Vol.1 No1 65
Inventor Thomas Edison is listed as one of The Secrets masters by Byrne. Kelly counters
with Edisons famous quote Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent
perspiration., and his own simple explanation of what caused his success I work 18
hours daily have been doing this for 45 years. This is double the usual amount men
do. (Kelly, 2007, p 169).
The third group of people quoted in The Secret are the living teachers that Byrne sought
out, whose professions are mostly metaphysician and author. Physicist Fred Alan
Wolf is an exception. As a bona fide scientist, he is used in the DVD to add scientific
credibility to The Secret, and quoted in the book explaining the notion in quantum
physics that mind is actually shaping the very thing that is perceived. (Byrne, 2006, p
21). He has since complained that most of what he said was edited out of the film, and that
I did not say the law of attraction is based on physics. There is absolutely nothing in
physics that says just because you desire something you will attract it into your life. (in
Kelly, 2007, p 101-102).
Medical doctor Ben Johnson is also quoted repeatedly in the film. He expresses grave
concerns about the way his ideas are presented there, and criticises the be all and end
all idea that all we have to do is think, ask, believe and whatever we want will fall out of
the sky. No matter how much positive thought or warm and fuzzy stuff we put out, you
cannot discount the rule of three: it takes three times as long, costs three times as much,
and requires three times as much energy to get anywhere you want to go. (in Kelly, 2007,
p 53-54).
Best-selling author John Gray, also quoted in the film, expresses strong disagreement with
Byrnes claims, for example the idea that you can eat MacDonalds fast food and lose
weight if you think positively about the Big Mac. He says There is legitimate criticism of
that idea. When people eat bad food, they should feel bad. Another version of her weight-
loss line of thinking is that if you shoot someone, have a positive thought in your head
while you are doing it, so it wont be a bad thing. Obviously it is. And putting bad food in
your body is like shooting yourself. (in Kelly, 2007, p 29).
It seems that no-one has really been keeping The Secret secret for thousands of years. In
general, the people that Byrne suggested have been keeping it secret, as well as the people
she featured in her film, just didnt believe in it. The person whose book inspired the
whole concept for Rhonda Byrnes was physically unwell and economically impoverished.
There is plenty of evidence to prove that our clients expectations and hopes, while they
dont create everything, can radically alter their results. This in itself is miraculous,
magical, and makes life a delight. How this works is the subject of the rest of this article.
However there is no sense in, and no need to claim that all our clients results are
generated by their expectations, let alone to claim that this is the one truth that accounts
for the advances of human history.
The Real Secrets of Success
Successful goal-setting, as we generally use it in NLP, is a process designed to produce

action, not to replace action. The Secret is based on a completely different understanding
of how goal-setting works. The purpose of goal-setting is to motivate you to actually
achieve what you want in life. It is not to motivate you to avoid problems, and it is not to
distract you so you avoid thinking about the problems. It is to motivate you to act!
Recently, there has been some dramatic new research about what enables goals to work.
This research suggests that the two most common unsuccessful choices people make in
goal-setting are:
1) Paying attention to what they dont want all the time, instead of what they do want.
2) Fantasising about having achieved what they want, instead of planning action.
Unsuccessful Choice 1: Focus on the Problem. This part of the research supports an idea
accepted by the secret. Focusing on problems and what we dont want is paying attention
to the past. It feels very different to focusing on the goal, outcome or solution to those
problems, and it has very different, and less useful, results. In 2000, Dr Denise Beike and
Deirdre Slavik at the University of Arkansas conducted an interesting study of what they
called counterfactual thoughts. These are thoughts about what has gone wrong, along
with what they could have done differently. Dr. Beike enlisted two groups of University of
Arkansas students to record their thoughts each day in a diary in order to "look at
counterfactual thoughts as they occur in peoples day-to-day lives." In the first group,
graduate students recorded their counterfactual thoughts, their mood, and their
motivation to change their behaviour as a result of their thoughts. After recording two
thoughts per day for 14 days, the students reported that negative thoughts depressed their
mood but increased their motivation to change their behaviour. They believed that the
negative thoughts were painful but would help them in the long term.
To test out this hope, the researchers then enlisted a group of students to keep similar
diaries for 21 days, to determine if any actual change in behaviour would result from
counterfactual thinking. Three weeks after completing their diaries the undergraduate
students were asked to review their diary data and indicate whether their counterfactual
thinking actually caused any change in behaviour. "No self-perceived change in behaviour
Acuity Vol.1 No1 67
was noted," Dr. Beike told Reuters Health. Counterfactual thoughts about negative events
in everyday life cause us to feel that we "should have done better or more," Dr. Beike said.
"These thoughts make us feel bad, which motivates us to sit around and to feel sorry for
ourselves." So what does work? The study found that "credit-taking thoughts, in which
individuals reflect on success and congratulate themselves, serve to reinforce appropriate
behaviour and help people "feel more in control of themselves and their circumstances."
(Slavik, 2003).
So far, the research seems to agree with the Secret. And in one area of life, this is often the
deciding factor. The body, being fully under control by your mind, is actually one place
where visualising IS action, and therefore produces results. This is due to what
psychologists call the ideo-motor and ideo-sensory responses of the body (ideas are
inevitably linked in the body to actions and sensory experiences). Harvard University
psychologist Ellen Langer, has done considerable research on the effect of imagination
inside your body. In February 2007, Langer reported the results of another fascinating
study of health results and expectations (Crum and Langer, p 165-171, 2007). Langer
studied 84 housekeepers working in seven different Boston hotels. The women in four of
these hotels had their health pretested and were told that their job cleaning 15 rooms a day
was providing healthy exercise which met all the requirements for an active lifestyle. The
women in the other four hotels were merely pretested. After four weeks, the women in the
second group had the same health statistics. The women who believed that their lifestyle
was healthy had on average lost two pounds of body weight, reduced their body mass
index by 0.35 and dropped their systolic blood pressure by 10 points. It is likely that these
improvements continued further over the following months.
An at cause (proactive) style of coping with stress is associated with enhanced activity
by the bodys immune cells (Goodkin et alia, 1992). That is to say, when someone is in a
state where they feel in charge of their life, and as if they are making choices about their
future, a check of their immune cells (T lymphocytes to be exact) will show that these cells
are more actively protecting the body from infection, and eliminating cancer cells. In fact,
people who adopt a more optimistic approach to life live 19% longer, according to a 30
year study at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota (Maruta, Colligan, Malinchoc, and Offord,
2000). Mayo clinic doctor Toshihiko Maruta says It confirmed our common-sense belief.
It tells us that mind and body are linked and that attitude has an impact on the final
outcome, death. However the fact that your thinking influences your body does not mean
that thinking can replace action in more general terms.
Unsuccessful Choice 2: Fantasise About The Solution. The rest of the research on
goalsetting tells a very different story to the Secret. Although focusing on the problem you
have had does not lead to success, neither does merely fantasising about the future
success. Lien Pham and Shelley Taylor at the University of California did a study where a
group of students were asked to visualise themselves getting high grades in a mid-term
exam that was coming up soon. They were taught to form clear visual images and imagine
how good it will feel, and to repeat this for several minutes each day. A control group was
also followed up, and the study times of each student as well as their grades in the exam
were monitored. The group who were visualising should, according to proponents of The
Secret DVD and the Law of Attraction, have a clear advantage. Actually, they did
much less study, and consequently got much lower marks in the exam (Pham and Taylor,
1999).
This result is very consistent. There are now a large number of research studies showing
that The secret or The law of attraction (visualising your outcome and then letting go
and trusting that the universe will provide it) impedes success. Gabrielle Oettingen at the
University of Pennsylvania has done a number of studies showing the same result. In one
study, women in a weight-reduction program were asked to describe what would happen
if they were offered a tempting situation with food. The more positive their fantasies of
how well they would cope with these situations, the less work they did on weight
reduction. A year later, those women who consistently fantasised positive results lost on
average 12 kilos less than those who anticipated negative challenges and thus put in more
effort (Oettingen and Wadden, 1991). Oettingen followed up final year students to find out
how much they fantasised getting their dream job after leaving university. The students
who fantasised more reported two years later that they did less searching for jobs, had
fewer offers of jobs, and had significantly smaller salaries than their classmates (Oettingen
and Mayer, 2002). In another study she investigated a group of students who had a secret
romantic attraction, a crush, on another student. She asked them to imagine what would
happen if they were to accidentally find themselves alone with that person. The more
vivid and positive the fantasies they made, the less likely they were to take any action and
to be any closer to a relationship with the person 5 months later. The result is consistent in
career success, in love and attraction, and in dealing with addictions and health challenges
(Oettingen, Pak and Schnetter, 2001; Oettingen, 2000; Oettingen and Gollwitzer, 2002).
Richard Wiseman (2009, p 88-93) did a very large study showing the same result. He
tracked 5000 people who had some significant goal they wanted to achieve (everything
from starting a new relationship to beginning a new career, from stopping smoking to
gaining a qualification. He followed people up over the next year, and found firstly that
only 10% ever achieved their goal. Dramatic and consistent differences in the
Acuity Vol.1 No1 69
psychological techniques they used made those 10% stand out from the rest. Those who
failed tended either to think about all the bad things that would happen or continue to
happen if they did not reach their goal (what NLP calls away from motivation, and what
other research calls counterfactual thought) or to fantasise about achieving their goal and
how great life would be. They also tried to achieve their goal by willpower and attempts to
suppress unhelpful thoughts. Finally, they spent time thinking about role models who
had achieved their goal, often putting pictures of the role model on their fridge or other
prominent places, to remind them to fantasise. These techniques did not work! And the
most successful people did not waste their time doing them.
Wiseman warns that visualising what it will be like to have achieved your goal has
become a popular tactic. This type of exercise has been promoted by the self-help
industry for years, with claims that it can help people lose weight, stop smoking, find their
perfect partner, and enjoy increased career success. Unfortunately, a large body of
research now suggests that although it might make you feel good, the technique is, at best,
ineffective. (Wiseman, 2009, p 84). This is because, as Wiseman notes, whether you
achieve your goals is primarily a question of motivation; of getting yourself to do certain
things. Fantasising that everything has already been done reduces motivation.
Goal-setting
The complete inventory of successful strategies that Richard Wisemans research found
fits neatly into my NLP-based SPECIFY model for outcome or goal setting (Bolstad, 2002).
Sensory Specific: Firstly, the most successful people did imagine achieving their goal, and
were able to list concrete, specific benefits they would get from it, rather than just say that
they would feel happy. They had what Wiseman calls an objective checklist of
benefits and made these as concrete as possible, often by writing them down. He notes
although many people said they aimed to enjoy life more, it was the successful people
who explained how they intended to spend two evenings each week with friends and visit
one new country each year. (Wiseman, 2009, p 91- 93)
Positive: Secondly, they described their goal positively. Wiseman says For example,
when asked to list the benefits of getting a new job, successful participants might reflect on
finding more fulfilling and well-paid employment, whereas their unsuccessful
counterparts might focus on a failure leaving them trapped and unhappy. (Wiseman,
2009, p 92)
Ecological: Thats about as far as the research results coincide with the Secret. For
example, one surprising result of the research by both Gabriellle Oettingen and Richard
Wiseman is that it pays to think about challenges you may face in achieving your goal
(even though that may feel unpleasant at the time). After thinking about the positive
benefits of achieving their goal, the most successful participants would spend another
few moments reflecting on the type of barriers and problems they are likely to encounter if
they attempt to fulfil their ambition. focusing on what they would do if they
encountered the difficulty. (Wiseman, 2009, p 101) Oettingen trained people to do this
process, which she calls doublethink and NLP would call checking ecology. She was
able to increase their success dramatically just with this step.
Choice Increasing and Celebrated: Related to this NLP concept of ecology is the fact that
successful goal-setters made sure that they felt as if their progress was bringing them
rewards rather than limiting their choices and creating work. They did this most of all
because As part of their planning, successful participants ensured that each of their sub-
goals had a reward attached to it so that it gave them something to look forward to and
provided a sense of achievement. (Wiseman, 2009, p 93)
Initiated by Self: Successful goal-setters have a plan. They do not leave their goal up to
the law of attraction or to someone else who will save them. Wiseman notes Whereas
successful and unsuccessful participants might have stated that their aim was to find a
new job, it was the successful people who quickly went on to describe how they intended
to rewrite their CV in week one, and then apply for one new job every two weeks for the
next six months. (Wiseman, 2009, p 91)
First Step Identified: Wiseman found that it was particularly important to break the goal
down into small steps and manage one step at a time. Successful participants broke their
overall goal into a series of sub-goals, and thereby created a step-by-step process that
helped remove the fear and hesitation often associated with trying to achieve a major life
change. (Wiseman, 2009, p 90-91)
Your Resources Identified: In NLP we encourage people to identify both internal and
external resources. Wisemans research studied only external resources, most especially
friends, colleagues and family. Successful participants were far more likely than others to
tell their friends, family and colleagues about their goals. Telling others about your aims
helps you achieve them, in part, because friends and family often provide much needed
support when the going gets tough. (Wiseman, 2009, p 91)
Acuity Vol.1 No1 71
Summarising
Since the release of the film The Secret in 2006, it has become popular to believe that
success in any field can be obtained simply by visualizing having what you want, and
then trusting that the universe will create it. Contrary to the claims of the film, there is
little evidence that high achievers from politics, business, science and philosophy have
held onto this belief, and scientists quoted in the film have explicitly stated that this
interpretation of their statements is erroneous. The writer whose book inspired the film
was impoverished throughout his sadly short life. Such visualizing does have effects on
internal body processes, but by itself does not, from the research, adequately assist people
to achieve success in other areas of life where external action is required. In the last 5 years
there has been research on how goal-setting works, and some consistent conclusions have
emerged:
1) The two activities most strongly correlated with failure to achieve stated goals are
a) focusing on past problems, and b) fantasizing that one has already achieved
success. The secret recognizes the first danger but not the second one.
2) A number of mental processes are strongly associated with goal achievement, and
most of these are not referred to in the Secret. They can be summarized with the
mnemonic SPECIFY:
Sensory Specific measurable and detailed descriptions of the desired result.
Positive description language
Ecological checking of challenges and undesired side effects of goal achievement
and preparation to manage these issues.
Choice enhancement and Celebration of successful steps on the path.
Initiation of real world action by the person themselves.
First and subsequent smaller steps planned towards the final goal.
Your resources identified, including others whose encouragement will support
action.
Biography
Dr Richard Bolstad is an NLP Trainer and author who teaches on several continents each
year. His book Transforming Communication is a text used in many degree courses and
his book RESOLVE gives a broader description of a research-based approach to NLP.
Bibliography:
Bandler, R. and Grinder, J. (1975) The Structure of Magic. Cupertino, California: Meta
Publications
Bolstad, R. (2002) RESOLVE: A New Model of Therapy. Carmarthen, Wales, Crown
Publishing
Byrne, R. (2006) The Secret. New York: Atria Books,
Canfield, J. and Hansen, M.V. (1993) A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup For The Soul. Deerfield
Beach, Florida: Health Communications Inc
Crum, A.J. and Langer, E.J.,\ (2007) Mind-Set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect p
165-171 in Psychological Science, Volume 18, Issue 2, February 2007
Dilts, R.B., Epstein, T. and Dilts, R.W. (1991) Tools for Dreamers. Capitola, California: Meta
Publications
Ericsson, K. A. (2003) How the expert-performance approach differs from traditional
approaches to expertise in sports: In search of a shared theoretical framework for
studying expert performance. In J. Starkes and K. A. Ericsson (Eds.) Expert
performance in sport: Recent advances in research on sport expertise. (pp. 371-401).
Champaign, Illinois : Human Kinetics.
Ericsson, K. A. (2003) The search for general abilities and basic capacities: Theoretical
implications from the modifiability and complexity of mechanisms mediating
expert performance In R. J. Sternberg and E. L. Grigorenko (Eds.) Perspectives on
the psychology of abilities, competencies, and expertise. (pp. 93-125). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Ericsson, K. A. (2004) Deliberate practice and the acquisition and maintenance of expert
performance in medicine and related domains in Academic Medicine. 10, S1-S12.
Goodkin K., Blancy N.T., Feaster D. et alia (1992) Active coping style is associated with
natural killer cell cytotoxicity in asymptomatic HIV-1 seropositive homosexual
men Journal of Psychosomatic Research 1992, 36:635-650
Hall, L.M. (2000) "A Few Secrets About Wealth Building" p 25-31 in Anchor Point journal,
Vol 14, No. 4, April 2000
Kasser, T. and Ryan, R.M. (1996) "Further Examining The American Dream: Differential
Correlates Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Goals" p 280-287 in Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, Vol 22, No. 3, 1996
Kelly, K. (2007) The Secret Of The Secret. Sydney, Australia: Pan Macmillan
Langer, E.J. (1989) Mindfulness. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley
Maruta, M., Colligan, R., Malinchoc, M. and Offord, K. (2000) Optimists vs Pessimists:
Survival Rate Amongst Medical Patients Over A 30 Year Period p 140-143 in Mayo
Clinic Proceedings, Vol 75; Number 2, February 2000
Monterosso, S., Lyubomirsky, K., White, K. and Lehman, D.R. (2002) Maximising Versus
Satisficing: Happiness Is A Matter Of Choice p 1178-1197 in Personality and Social
Psychology, No 83 (5), 2002
Nightingale, E. (2009) The Strangest Secret published on line at
http://www.innovationtools.com/Articles/SuccessDetails.asp
Acuity Vol.1 No1 73
Oettingen, G. (2000) Expectancy Effects on Behaviour Depend on Self-Regulatory

Thought p 101-129 in Social Cognition, No. 18, 2000
Oettingen, G. and Gollwitzer, P.M. (2002) Self-Regulation of Goal Pursuit: Turning Hope
Thoughts into Behaviour p 304-307 in Psychological Inquirer, No 13, 2002
Oettingen, G. and Mayer, D. (2002) The Motivating Function of Thinking About The
Future: Expectations Versus Fantasies p 1198-1212 in Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, No. 83, 2002
Oettingen, G. and Wadden, T.A. (1991) Expectation, Fantasy, and Weight Loss: Is The
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Free Fantasies About the Future Into Binding Goals p 736-753 in Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, No 80, 2001
Pham, L.B. and Taylor, S.E. (1999) From Thought to Action: Effects of Process Versus
Outcome Based Mental Simulations on Performance. P 250-260 in Personality and
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Prime Time Productions, (2006) The Secret DVD
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No. 4, March 1997
Slater, P. (1980) Wealth Addiction. Dutton, New York
Slavik, D.J. (2003) Keeping your eyes on the prize : outcome versus process focused social
comparisons and counterfactual thinking Thesis (Ph. D.), Fayetteville: University
of Arkansas
Timpany, L. (2005) Building Outcome Bridges p 3-4 in Trancescript Number 36, October
2005
Waltman, S.(2006) Integration Coaching http://integrationcoach.wordpress.com/2006/08
Wattles, W. (2006) The Science of Getting Rich. Rockford, Illinois: BN Publishing,
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Appendix: Setting A Well-formed Outcome A Research Based Worksheet
1. Sensory Specific
(a) What date do you intend to have this outcome by?
(b) Put yourself in the situation of having it. Step into your body at that time. What do
you see, what do you hear, what do you feel when you have it?
2. Positive Language
This question need only be asked if the person says I DONT want or I want it NOT
to be like at any time. In that case, ask: If you dont have that [i.e. the thing they dont
want], what is it that you will have instead?
3. Ecological
(a) What will you gain if you have this outcome? What will you lose if you have this
outcome? (If there are things which they would regret losing, ask How can you create
new ways to get what is important to you AND reach this goal?)
(b) What situations do you want this outcome in? Are there any life situations do you
not want it to affect?
4. Choice Increases and is Celebrated

(a) How can this outcome increase your life choices?
(b) How will you celebrate the improvements it brings?
5. Initiated By Self
What do you personally need to do to achieve this?
6. First Step Identified

What is a first small step which you could take in the next 24 hours?
7. Your Resources Identified

What resources do you have to help you achieve this outcome? (This includes external
resources such as time, money, and people to support you. Even more importantly, it
includes internal resources such as the feeling of confidence from past experiences where
you achieved goals which had a similar challenge). Who will you tell about this goal?
Enhancing and Advancing
Neuro Linguistic
Programming
November 2010
Vol. 1 / NO. 1
For a field based on a Communication Model and that seeks to make the structure
of experience explicit, NLP can only thrive when there are journals that provide
open, respectful, and professional exchanges by those who lead the way in creating a
collaborative community. And thats why Im delighted to see Joe Cheal and ANLP lead
out in the creation of Acuity.
L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.
Developer of the Meta-States Model
It is with a great sense of at last! that I welcome the publication of Acuity. For a good
while now there has been a piece missing in the jigsaw that is NLP. Acuity fills the
gap, and it does so in many ways. It motivates authors from around the world to write
illuminating in-depth articles. It brings together a range of diverse topics thereby giving
the reader an opportunity to make unexpected associations. And by publishing high-
quality reviewed papers it serves to raise the game of the whole field. Congratulations
to Joe Cheal and the Association for NLP for making a contribution that, like a butterflys
wings, might just start a flurry of co-inspiration - long may it last.
James Lawley
co-author, Metaphors in Mind: Transformation through Symbolic Modelling
Acuity is published by the Association for NLP

www.anlp.org
Tel: 020 3051 6740
Apsley Mills Cottage
Stationers Place
Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9RH

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Enhancing and Advancing

A New Anthology of Shared Findings and Learnings

The Association of NLP

Articles remain the copyright of the contributor.

Article Author Page

NLP Patterns and Principles Richard Gray 6

If only God would give us a Penny Tompkins & James Lawley 17

The Role of Moods in NLP Joe Cheal 28

The Four Pillars and Coaching Angus McLeod 37

7+2 Keys To Becoming A World- L . Michael Hall 49

The How Behind The Secret Richard Bolstad 61

But then one day the publications stopped.

Enjoy, be brilliant and shine on.

NLP Patterns and Principles

Richard M. Gray, Ph.D

Recursion refers to the property of

In computer programming (this is Neuro-linguistic PROGRAMMING), one of the most

The operations in this model specify how

Transformationcomplex systems are dynamic and they change over time

Richard M Gray, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Fairleigh Dickinson

If only God would give us a sign

The Role of Meta-Comments

Cartoon reproduced with kind permission of Allan Hirsh,

We define a 'meta-comment as a verbal or nonverbal expression which refers to what has

... she turns to the camera:

In case you are interested, the client replied:

Below are some more examples of clients meta-comments:

Meta-comments indicate a momentary shift in perspective (and possibly perceiver)

From a facilitator's viewpoint, meta comments can be considered as orientation pointers

- Continue attending to the current perception (to stay put)

Meta communication is communication about communication. For instance, a meta

It is important to distinguish meta communication from meta messages. Meta

Meta-comments signal a momentary shift to a meta-perspective. L. Michael Hall's model of

In everyday conversation meta-comments rarely become the topic of conversation and

WAYS OF KNOWING - The first thing that comes to mind is ....

COMPARISON - Scale - Its a big deal for me.

TIMEFRAME - At the moment ...

LANGUAGING - Let me rephrase that.

CATEGORIES OF EXPERIENCE - Thats the pattern.

CONDITIONAL/POTENTIAL CONTEXTS - I would like that to be true.

TO FACILITATOR DIRECTLY - No, that doesnt actually feel right.

NONVERBAL - [Laughter at]

For a full list of the meta-comments by category see:

Thats like my whole life.

Common signals for meta-comments

The person's body often moves slightly backwards or upwards.

Working with meta-comments

1. Notice/recognise the meta-comment.

3. Consider whether to:

i. Utilise the comment directly

Client: I've just realised I need to decide which way to go.

Ways Meta-Comments can be utilised

"Theres something else I cant quite grasp."

"Im trying to do this in bits."

"Both elements are important."

"I know this pattern."

"If I'm honest ..."

"[Laugh] Ive been here before."

A meta-comment that suggests something new just happened.

When there are a lot of meta-comments

Attending to their own meta-comments is likely be an unusual experience for a client.

Utilising the logic of the meta-comment

Gregory Bateson, Steps to An Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology,